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High quality studies that evaluate cost‐effective interventions in neck and upper extremity musculoskeletal conditions are needed.

For most humans work is an important fact of life and something that is necessary for survival and individual wellbeing. However, the circumstances under which we work may vary considerably and are, in part, contingent on geographical location, governmental regulations, design of social welfare systems, production systems, and human resource management strategies. In many industrialized countries, demographic developments entailing an ageing workforce increase the importance of developing sustainable employments.

Brain serotonin function has been implicated in the control of sleep and sleep related memory dysfunctions are attributed to deficient brain serotonin activity. Depletion of the serotonin precursor tryptophan reduces brain serotonin function and is found to cause sleep abnormalities and cognitive decline. We hypothesized that enhancing pre-sleep brain tryptophan availability via a dietary increase in the ratio of plasma tryptophan to the sum of the other large neutral amino acids (Trp/LNAA) improves post-sleep memory functioning particularly in subjects with mild sleep complaints. To test whether evening intake of a tryptophan-rich diet increases the plasma Trp/LNAA ratio before sleep and improves early morning behavioral and brain measures of memory function in subjects with mild sleep complaints and controls. Twenty-eight subjects with mild sleep complaints and 28 controls participated in a double-blind placebo-controlled study. They stayed at the laboratory for an overnight sleep to monitor their post-sleep memory performance following either an evening diet containing tryptophan-rich protein or placebo protein. Evening dietary-induced changes in the plasma Trp/LNAA ratio were measured. Besides measuring behavioral changes, also task-related electroencephalographic brain activity (ERP) was measured as an index of cerebral changes in memory function. The tryptophan-rich diet caused a 130% increase in the plasma Trp/LNAA ratio (P = 0.0001) and in all subjects improved behavioral (P=0.001) and ERP (P=0.05) brain measures of memory function. Post-sleep memory function improves after pre-sleep dietary increases in plasma TRP/LNAA probably by improved sleep. Copyright © 2006 by New Century Health Publishers, LLC.

Shoulder pain is widespread and imposes a considerable burden on the affected person and society. Women seem to have more shoulder problems than men, and the frequency of shoulder pain increases with age. Smoking and previous trauma are associated with shoulder pain. A recent systematic review of the literature by van der Windt et al looked at occupational risks for shoulder pain; risks were divided into physical factors (such as carrying or lifting heavy loads, working in awkward postures, engaging in repetitive movements, and being exposed to vibrations) and psychosocial factors related to work. Nearly all studies that assessed work related psychosocial risk factors reported at least one positive association with shoulder pain, but the results were not consistent across studies. People with shoulder pain should remain active and return to normal activity or temporarily modified work as soon as possible. Attention should also be paid to preventing shoulder pain at work. Work tasks should be varied and employees should be offered opportunities for developing their jobs and influencing their work patterns.

Chemicals / CAS: 4,4' methylenedianiline, 101-77-9; Hazardous Substances.

Chemicals / CAS: lipoprotein lipase, 83137-80-8, 9004-02-8; APOA5 protein, human; Apolipoproteins A; Apolipoproteins; Triglycerides

The term comfort is often seen relating to the marketing of products like chairs, cars, clothing, hand tools and even airplane tickets, while in the scientific literature, the term discomfort shows up often, since it is used in research. Few papers explain the concept of a localized comfort experience in relation to product use, although people use these products daily. Therefore, in this special issue, the concept of product comfort is studied further. In this editorial an overview of comfort models has been made, evaluated with the papers from the special issue and a new comfort/discomfort model is proposed to increase our understanding of the factors influencing comfort and discomfort experiences. © 2011 Elsevier Ltd and The Ergonomics Society.

Chemicals / CAS: 2 methylpropanethioic acid s [2 [1 (2 ethylbutyl)cyclohexylcarboxamido]phenyl] ester, 211513-37-0; atorvastatin, 134523-00-5, 134523-03-8; nicotinic acid, 54-86-4, 59-67-6; torcetrapib, 262352-17-0; Carrier Proteins; CETP protein, human; Cholesterol Ester Transfer Proteins; Cholesterol Esters; Cholesterol, HDL; Glycoproteins; Lipoproteins, HDL