Joonhee Park

Component contribution of personal protective equipment to the alleviation of physiological strain in firefighters during work and recovery

The purpose of this study was to investigate the components contributions of personal protective equipment on physiological strain in firefighters during exercise and recovery. Eight firefighters participated in trials in which various combinations of personal protective equipment components weighing from 1.3 to 15.1 kg were worn. The results showed that rectal temperature, changes in rectal temperature, mean skin temperature, heart rate, oxygen consumption and blood lactate concentration were smaller in conditions without boots (no-boots) than in other conditions with no helmet, gloves or self-contained breathing apparatus (P < 0.05). Increases in rectal temperature per unit mass of personal protective equipment were approximately twice as small in no-boots condition as the other conditions. These results suggest that the reduction of the boots mass might be more efficient to alleviate heat strain of firefighters wearing personal protective equipment, rather than the reduction of the mass of self-contained breathing apparatus, helmet or gloves. Practitioner Summary: As firefighters protective boots induce greater physiological burden when compared with a helmet, gloves or self-contained breathing apparatus, personal protective equipment designers need to consider the improvement of boots in terms of mass reduction, improvement of thermal comfort and ease of doffing during recovery to alleviate physiological strain on firefighters.

Morphological dependency of cutaneous blood flow and sweating during compensable heat stress when heat-loss requirements are matched across participants

Human heat loss is thought, in part, to be morphologically related. It was therefore hypothesized that when heat-loss requirements and body temperatures were matched, that the mass-specific surface area alone could significantly explain both cutaneous vascular and sudomotor responses during compensable exercise. These thermoeffector responses were examined in 36 men with widely varying mass-specific surface areas (range, 232.3-292.7 cm(2)/kg), but of similar age, aerobic fitness, and adiposity. Subjects completed two trials under compensable conditions (28.1°C, 36.8% relative humidity), each involving rest (20 min) and steady-state cycling (45 min) at two matched metabolic heat-production rates (light, ∼135 W/m(2); moderate, ∼200 W/m(2)). Following equivalent mean body temperature changes, forearm blood flow and vascular conductance (r = 0.63 and r = 0.65) shared significant, positive associations with the mass-specific surface area during light work (P < 0.05), explaining ∼45% of the vasomotor variation. Conversely, during light and moderate work, whole body sweat rate, as well as local sweat rate and sudomotor sensitivity at three of four measured sites, revealed moderate, negative relationships with the mass-specific surface area (correlation coefficient range -0.37 to -0.73, P < 0.05). Moreover, those relationships could uniquely account for between 10 and 53% of those sweating responses (P < 0.05). Therefore, both thermoeffector responses displayed a significant morphological dependency in the presence of equivalent thermoafferent drive. Indeed, up to half of the interindividual variation in these effector responses could now be explained through morphological differences and the first principles governing heat transfer.

Variations in body morphology explain sex differences in thermoeffector function during compensable heat stress

What is the central question of this study? Can sex‐related differences in cutaneous vascular and sudomotor responses be explained primarily by variations in the ratio between body surface area and mass during compensable exercise that elicits equivalent heat‐loss requirements and mean body temperature changes across participants? What is the main finding and its importance? Mass‐specific surface area was a significant determinant of vasomotor and sudomotor responses in men and women, explaining 10–48% of the individual thermoeffector variance. Nonetheless, after accounting for changes in mean body temperature and morphological differences, sex explained only 5% of that inter‐individual variability. It was concluded that sex differences in thermoeffector function are morphologically dependent, but not sex dependent.

Relationships of self-identified cold tolerance and cold-induced vasodilatation in the finger

This study was conducted to investigate relationships of self-identified cold tolerance and cold-induced vasodilatation (CIVD) in the finger. Nine males and 34 females participated in the following 2 tests: a CIVD test and a self-reported survey. The CIVD test was conducted 30-min cold-water immersion (3.8xa0±xa00.3xa0°C) of the middle finger at an air temperature of 27.9xa0±xa00.1xa0°C. The self-reported questionnaire consisted of 28 questions about whole and local body cold and heat tolerances. By a cluster analysis on the survey results, the participants were divided into two groups: high self-identified cold tolerance (HSCT, nxa0=xa025) and low self-identified cold tolerance (LSCT, nxa0=xa018). LSCT had lower self-identified cold tolerance (Pxa0<xa00.001), preferred hot thermal stimulation (Pxa0=xa00.006), and wore heavier clothing during daily life (Pxa0<xa00.001) than HSCT. LSCT had significantly lower maximal finger temperatures (Tmax) (Pxa0=xa00.040), smaller amplitude (Pxa0=xa00.029), and delayed onset time of CIVD (Pxa0=xa00.080) when compared to HSCT. Some questions examining the self-identified cold or heat tolerance had relationships with cold tolerance index, Tmax, and amplitude (Pxa0<xa00.1). These results indicate that self-identified cold tolerance classified through a standardized survey could be a good index to predict physiological cold tolerance.

What do firefighters desire from the next generation of personal protective equipment? Outcomes from an international survey

The purpose of this study was to investigate smart features required for the next generation of personal protective equipment (PPE) for firefighters in Australia, Korea, Japan, and the USA. Questionnaire responses were obtained from 167 Australian, 351 Japanese, 413 Korean, and 763 U.S. firefighters (1,611 males and 61 females). Preferences concerning smart features varied among countries, with 27% of Korean and 30% of U.S. firefighters identifying ‘a location monitoring system’ as the most important element. On the other hand, 43% of Japanese firefighters preferred ‘an automatic body cooling system’ while 21% of the Australian firefighters selected equally ‘an automatic body cooling system’ and ‘a wireless communication system’. When asked to rank these elements in descending priority, responses across these countries were very similar with the following items ranked highest: ‘a location monitoring system’, ‘an automatic body cooling system’, ‘a wireless communication system’, and ‘a vision support system’. The least preferred elements were ‘an automatic body warming system’ and ‘a voice recording system’. No preferential relationship was apparent for age, work experience, gender or anthropometric characteristics. These results have implications for the development of the next generation of PPE along with the international standardisation of the smart PPE.

Cold adaptation, aging, and Korean women divers haenyeo.

BackgroundWe have been studying the thermoregulatory responses of Korean breath-hold women divers, called haenyeo, in terms of aging and cold adaptation. During the 1960s to the 1980s, haenyeos received attention from environmental physiologists due to their unique ability to endure cold water while wearing only a thin cotton bathing suit. However, their overall cold-adaptive traits have disappeared since they began to wear wetsuits and research has waned since the 1980s. For social and economic reasons, the number of haenyeos rapidly decreased to 4005 in 2015 from 14,143 in 1970 and the average age of haenyeos is about 75xa0years old at present.MethodsFor the past several years, we revisited and explored older haenyeos in terms of environmental physiology, beginning with questionnaire and field studies and later advancing to thermal tolerance tests in conjunction with cutaneous thermal threshold tests in a climate chamber. As control group counterparts, older non-diving females and young non-diving females were compared with older haenyeos in the controlled experiments.ResultsOur findings were that older haenyeos still retain local cold tolerance on the extremities despite their aging. Finger cold tests supported more superior local cold tolerance for older haenyeos than for older non-diving females. However, thermal perception in cold reflected aging effects rather than local cold acclimatization. An interesting finding was the possibility of positive cross-adaptation which might be supported by greater heat tolerance and cutaneous warm perception thresholds of older haenyeos who adapted to cold water.ConclusionsIt was known that cold-adaptive traits of haenyeos disappeared, but we confirmed that cold-adaptive traits are still retained on the face and hands which could be interpreted by a mode switch to local adaptation from the overall adaptation to cold. Further studies on cross-adaptation between chronic cold stress and heat tolerance are needed.

Finger cold-induced vasodilation of older Korean female divers, haenyeo: effects of chronic cold exposure and aging

The aim of the present study was to evaluate the local cold tolerance of older Korean female divers, haenyeo (Nxa0=xa022) in terms of cold acclimatization and ageing. As control groups, older non-diving females (Nxa0=xa025) and young females from a rural area (Nxa0=xa015) and an urban area (Nxa0=xa051) participated in this study. To evaluate local cold tolerance, finger cold-induced vasodilation (CIVD) during finger immersion of 4xa0°C water was examined. As a result, older haenyeos showed greater minimum finger temperature and recovery finger temperature than older non-diving females (Pxa0<xa00.05), but similar responses in onset time, peak time, maximum finger temperature, frequency of CIVD, heart rate, blood pressure, and thermal and pain sensations as those of older non-diving females. Another novel finding was that young urban females showed more vulnerable responses to local cold in CIVD variables and subjective sensations when compared to older females, whereas young rural females had the most excellent cold tolerance in terms of maximum temperature and frequency of CIVD among the four groups (Pxa0<xa00.05). The present results imply that older haenyeos still retain cold acclimatized features on the periphery even though they changed their cotton diving suits to wet suits in the early 1980s. However, cardiovascular responses and subjective sensations to cold reflect aging effects. In addition, we suggest that young people who have been adapted to highly insulated clothing and indoor heating systems in winter should be distinguished from young people who were exposed to less modern conveniences when compared to the aged in terms of cold tolerance.

Working Clothes and Working Environment of Workers at a Construction Site in Summer

Workers on construction sites are exposed to multiple and varied threats. Of those, climatic factors such as high/low air temperatures and high/low humidity have a bad mental and physical health effect on workers. Especially, work in hot environment has a tendency to cause fatigue, reduce productivity and increase the incidence of accident. So, the purpose of this research was to understand working clothes and working environment of workers at a construction site in summer. The depth interview was performed by 45 workers of 4 different construction sites and the results were as follows. Workers wore average 4 items as clothing(upper, lower) and average 5 items as personal protective equipments(PPEs). They answered head is the hottest body area and must be protected during working. This means the necessity of development in safety hat. In addition, it should be developed working clothes and gaiters for alleviating heat stress and safety shoes for diminishing weight. It is expected that this research plays basic and important rolls to develop PPEs for reducing the heat stress of construction workers.

Physiological Responses of Wearing Safety Helmet with Cooling Pack in Hot Environment

Safety helmets are used widely in various industries by workers since they are legally required to wear them. However, thermal discomfort is one of the major complaints from helmet users. To relieve this problem, frozen gelled packs can be considered for use inside the helmets. In this paper, tests were performed on humans to evaluate the physiological strains of wearing safety helmets and to investigate the effects of using frozen gelled packs inside the helmets. Experiments were conducted in a climatic chamber of WBGT under four differed experimental conditions: 1) not wearing a safety helmet(NH); 2) wearing a safety helmet with frozen gelled pack A(HA); 3) wearing a safety helmet with frozen gelled pack B(HB); and 4) wearing only a safety helmet(OH). The results were as follows. First, when comparing NH with OH, physiological responses such as , HR and sweat rate were significantly higher in OH and subjective sensations were reported as less hot and more comfortable than NH(p increase, heat storage(p

Sensitivity to cutaneous warm stimuli varies greatly in the human head

The head has been known as the most sensitive area to temperature changes but the values are limited to the face. The purpose of this study was to examine cutaneous warm thresholds on the scalp and face of young males. Eight males participated in this study (24 ± 3 yrs in age, 178.2 ± 5.3cm in height, and 90.0 ± 15.4kg in body mass). All measurements were conducted in an environmental chamber (27 ± 1°C air temperature and 53 ± 1% relative humidity). Cutaneous warm thresholds were measured on nine areas of the following regions: the frontal (two points on the right), parietal (a point on the right and the vertex, respectively), temporal (two points on the right), and occipital region (on the right) along with the forehead using a thermal stimulator (rate of temperature increase 0.1°Cs-1). Skin temperatures on the nine head regions were monitored during the threshold test. The results showed that 1) no significant differences were found in initial skin temperatures among the nine head regions; 2) cutaneous warm detecting temperatures were significantly greater on the vertex (38.2 ± 3.5°C) than on the forehead (34.8 ± 1.4°C) and the other seven scalp regions (P < 0.05); 3) subjects detected the increase of 1.2 ± 1.0°C on the forehead and 1.5 ± 1.2°C on the occipital region as the first warmth while the vertex was the most insensitive to the increase of temperature (4.0 ± 3.2°C) (P < 0.05). In summary, the scalp region of young males was less sensitive to the temperature change when compared to the forehead, and the vertex was the most insensitive among the eight scalp regions to the temperature increase. We conclude that the entire head should be considered as a binary topography with the face and the scalp in terms of cutaneous thermal sensitivity.