Selected Morbidities among Workers of an Adhesive Plaster Industry in Goa

Background: The toxic nature of chemicals & pollutants associated with an adhesive plaster industry is well established. A disastrous health sequel would occur among workers of these industries due to exposure to pollution, created & stored wastes, and constant noise & bright light. Objective:To describe selected morbidities among workers in an ad-hesive plaster industry in Goa. Methodology:The study was conducted over a period of two months during which, the data of 135 workers was obtained from an Occupa-tional Health and Safety (OHS) Centre catering to an adhesive plaster industry in North Goa which conducted periodic medical check-ups of these workers. The data included socio-demographic characteristics and details regarding selected morbidities among the workers of the adhesive plaster industry. Result: Among 135 workers, the mean age was 40.96 ± 11.1 years. Majority of the participants were males. It was observed that 5 (3.7 %) had a known history of diabetes and 48 (35.6 %) were hypertensive. Near-vision abnormalities were seen among 66 (48.9 %), whereas 60 (44.4 %) had uncorrected far-vision abnormalities. Obesity was detected among 6 (4.4 %) whereas 40 (29.6 %) were overweight. Obstructive & restrictive respiratory diseases were seen in 3 (2.2 %) & 40 (29.6 %) persons respectively. Audiometry reports revealed 4 (3%) workers had mild to moderate hearing loss. Conclusion: Workers in the adhesive plaster industry suffered from several lifestyle diseases like diabetes, hypertension, obesity, as well as occupational diseases like audio-visual impairment and lung diseases. This study emphasizes the importance of periodic medical examinations for timely detection & appropriate treatment of the health conditions among such workers.

Study on efficacy and safety of Tong-luo Qu-tong plaster treatment for knee osteoarthritis: study protocol for a randomised, double-blind, parallel positive control, multi-center clinical trial

Background: Knee osteoarthritis (KOA) is a common chronic musculoskeletal disorder that seriously affect quality of life. Patients with KOA frequently develop one or more of the typically following symptoms: joint pain, stiffness, joint friction noise, impaired functionality. Traditional Chinese medicines (TCM) have showed a superior effect and peculiar advantage on the treatment of KOA, among TCMs, the Tong-luo Qu-tong plaster is the convenient and most commonly used method in China to improve symptoms including pain, stiffness and limited mobility in patients with KOA, as it causes few adverse effects. But there is a lack of high quality of clinical evidences to support the therapeutic effect that Chinese adhesive plaster can relieve pain and stiffness. The purpose of this study will be to evaluate the efficacy and safety of Tong-luo Qu-tong plaster in patients with KOA. Methods/Design: This study will be a randomised, double-blind, parallel positive control, multi-center clinical trial, a non-inferiority trial design was adopted. A total of 2000 participants older than 40 years with KOA, will be randomly allocated into a experimental group (n=1500) and a control group (n=500). All participants will receive a conventional conservative treatment lasted for 14 days as two courses, daily 1 time. Tong-luo Qu-tong plaster will be administered externally to participants in the experimental group, while the control group will receive a Qi-zheng Xiao-tong plaster. The outcome of the total Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Arthritis Index scores, TCM syndrome quantitative score, visual analog scale scores will be measured during the assessment visits (baseline and 1-, 2-week follow-up). In addition, adverse events concerning clinical symptoms and signs as well as laboratory tests will be documented during clinical trials. Discussion: This study will be a randomized, double-blind, parallel positive control trial to further evaluate the effectiveness and safety of Tong-luo Qu-tong plaster for patients with KOA in nine medical centers compared with control group, it is expected that the patients with KOA will benefit from this study.

Performance and testing of adhesive bandage tape

The adhesive plaster or bandage is used to cover non-serious wound or cut in the skin. It is formed by a basic layer of plain fabric coated with the adhesive material. There are several factors that affect the performance of the produced adhesive bandage. One of the frequent reported problems is the strong engagement with the skin that causes severe pain to the patient when it is removed from the skin. The peel test is used to determine the force required to remove the bandage from the skin, tissue or other adhesive tape. The aim of research is to study the factors that affect the performance of adhesive bandage—starting from the raw fabric used and some of the manufacturing machine settings (speed, slit knife height). An attachment was made to test the peeling force of adhesive tape on an ordinary tensile testing device. Results show that the storage of the adhesive bandage tape is the most significant factor that affects the mechanical properties of the adhesive tape.

Application of Macca Charcoal in Saponified Natural Rubber Composites

This present work is an attempt to study the composite between natural rubber (NR) and Macca charcoal, as a special additive, for producing the adhesive plaster for pain relief. The NR latex used in this work was a saponified NR (SPNR) cured by peroxide to avoid allergenic problems in human use, which causes by protein and accelerator in sulphur cure. Macca charcoal is proved to have ability to generate far infrared rays (FIR) in the range of 6-14 µm which can transfer to be heat energy. The human body can absorb FIR in this range because of their deep penetrating ability. Light energy is changed to thermal energy when FIR penetrates through skin to the subcutaneous tissues. This thermal energy helps to decrease the symptoms of stress and fatigue such as headaches, joint pain, burns, muscle spasms, and insomnia. In this work, the SPNR/Macca composite was subjected to studying the effect of Macca charcoal content on the physical and thermal properties of SPNR composites. The results showed that hardness and tensile properties increased with increasing an addition of Macca charcoal in SPNR. In addition, the increasing of Macca charcoal content enhance thermal retention estimation and thermal intensity, but has no substantial effect on depth of FIR diffusion on pork layer. Thus, SPNR/Macca charcoal composites can be an optional material apply for an adhesive bandage for pain relief purpose.