Occupational lung disease

BACKGROUND: Occupational exposure to metals can be associated with respiratory diseases which can adversely affect the individual's health, finances and employment. Despite this, little is known about the incidence of these respiratory conditions over prolonged periods of time. AIMS: This study aimed to investigate the trends in the incidence of work-related respiratory diseases attributed to nickel, chromium and cobalt in the UK. METHODS: Cases of occupational respiratory diseases caused by nickel, chromium or cobalt reported to Surveillance of Work-related and Occupational Respiratory Disease (SWORD), the UK-based surveillance scheme between 1996 and 2019 (inclusive), were extracted and grouped into six 4-year time periods...

RATIONALE: Exposure to burn pit smoke, desert and combat dust, and diesel exhaust during military deployment to Southwest Asia and Afghanistan (SWA) can cause deployment-related respiratory diseases (DRRDs) and may confer risk for worsening lung function after return. METHODS: Study subjects were SWA-deployed veterans who underwent occupational lung disease evaluation (n=219). We assessed differences in lung function by deployment exposures and DRRD diagnoses. We used linear mixed models to assess changes in lung function over time...

BACKGROUND: Textile-sizing mill workers are exposed to various hazards in the sizing units during their working hours and are at risk of acquiring lung impairments due to the usage of sizing chemicals in the sizing process. OBJECTIVE: The main aim of this study is to assess the influence of cotton dust and sizing agents on lung function and breathing difficulties among Indian textile sizing mill workers. METHODS: This cross-sectional study was carried out at a textile-sizing mill from August 2022 to September 2022...

OBJECTIVES: We aimed to analyze the subchronic toxicity and tissue distribution of indium after the intratracheal administration of indium-tin oxide nanoparticles (ITO NPs) to the lungs of rats. METHODS: Male Wistar rats were administered a single intratracheal dose of 10 or 20 mg In/kg body weight (BW) of ITO NPs. The control rats received only an intratracheal dose of distilled water. A subset of rats was periodically euthanized throughout the study from 1 to 20 weeks after administration...

OBJECTIVES: Silicosis people are at high risk of developing pulmonary tuberculosis. Whether silica exposure increases the likelihood of latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI) was not well understood, and potential factors involved in LTBI risk among silicosis people were not evaluated before. Thus, LTBI among silicosis people and potential risk factors for LTBI among silicosis people were evaluated in this study. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was undertaken for 130 miner workers with silicosis...

Silicosis is a hazardous occupational disease caused by inhalation of silica, characterized by persistent lung inflammation that leads to fibrosis and subsequent lung dysfunction. Moreover, the complex pathophysiology of silicosis, the challenges associated with early detection, and the unfavorable prognosis contribute to the limited availability of treatment options. Daphnetin (DAP), a natural lactone, has demonstrated various pharmacological properties, including anti-inflammatory, anti-fibrotic, and pulmonary protective effects...

Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is a chronic and irreversible fibrotic disease whose natural history is characterised by a progressive worsening of the pulmonary function, exertional dyspnoea, exercise intolerance, reduced physical activity, and health-related quality of life (HRQOL) impairment. Pulmonary rehabilitation (PR) is a comprehensive, multi-disciplinary programme that uses a combination of strength training, teaching, counselling, and behaviour modification techniques to reduce symptoms and optimise functional capacity in patients with chronic lung disease...

OBJECTIVES: This study investigated cancer-specific mortality risks of workers employed in food, accommodation and beverage (FAB) activities. METHODS: We performed a case-control study based on countrywide mortality and National Social Insurance data. Adjusted cancer specific mortality odds ratios (MOR) were calculated. We modelled occupational exposure as "ever/never been employed" in FAB activities, using other sectors as reference. Analysis was performed by gender, length of employment and year of smoke banning...

BACKGROUND: Environmental/occupational exposures cause significant lung diseases. Agricultural organic dust extracts (ODE) and bacterial component lipopolysaccharide (LPS) induce recruited, transitioning murine lung monocytes/macrophages, yet their cellular role remains unclear. METHODS: CCR2 RFP+ mice were intratracheally instilled with high concentration ODE (25%), LPS (10 μg), or gram-positive peptidoglycan (PGN, 100 μg) for monocyte/macrophage cell-trafficking studies...

Nickel (Ni), a ductile and hard silver-white transition metal, is commonly found in occupational environments and can harm the human body. Since it is a toxic compound, long-term Ni exposure can cause pneumonia, rhinitis, and other types of respiratory inflammatory diseases. Resveratrol (Res) is a plant antitoxin polyphenol, which also has anti-cancer and anti-inflammatory properties. In this report, the toxicity of Ni-refining fumes on the human lung bronchial epithelial (BEAS-2B) cells, as well as the protective effects of Res were investigated in vitro, and the specific mechanism of its anti-inflammatory effect was explained...

Different types of metals, including manganese (Mn), are constantly encountered in various environmental matrices due to natural and anthropogenic activities. They induce a sustained inflammatory response in various organs, which is considered to be an important priming event in the pathogenesis of several diseases. Mn-induced neuroinflammation and subsequent neurodegeneration are well recognized. However, emerging data suggest that occupationally and environmentally relevant levels may affect various organs, including the lungs...

Multiple diseases and disorders are connected with occupational and environmental exposure risk. It is also well-established that chemicals and chemical mixtures have an influence on the immune cells of humans. This is an important field of research that has been pursued extensively in relation to autoimmune illnesses, allergy/asthma, and lung cancer, but Prostate Carcinoma has received rare reports. Chronic chemical exposure is known to produce inflammation, which is one of the most prominent characteristics of all malignancies...

Introduction The textile industry is one of the largest economic activities. Still, the laborers involved in it are exposed to various health-damaging air pollutants, putting them at risk of health issues including morbidities of the respiratory system. Therefore, this study aimed to assess the pulmonary function parameters of the workers involved in textile manufacturing-related jobs. Methodology A cross-sectional study was carried out among adult individuals who had been working in textile manufacturing-related jobs as their main work...

BACKGROUND: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) affecting 334 million people in the world remains a major cause of morbidity and mortality. Proper diagnosis of COPD is still a challenge and largely solely based on spirometric criteria. We aimed to investigate the potential of nitrosative/oxidative stress and related metabolic biomarkers in exhaled breath condensate (EBC) to discriminate COPD patients. METHODS: Three hundred three participants were randomly selected from a 15,000-transit worker cohort within the Respiratory disease Occupational Biomonitoring Collaborative Project (ROBoCoP)...

Laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) imaging continues to gain strength as an influential bioanalytical technique, showing intriguing potential in the field of clinical analysis. This is because hyperspectral LIBS imaging allows for rapid, comprehensive elemental analysis, covering elements from major to trace levels consistently year after year. In this study, we estimated the potential of a multivariate spectral data treatment approach based on a so-called convex envelope method to detect exotic elements (whether they are minor or in trace amounts) in biopsy tissues of patients with occupational exposure-related diseases...

BACKGROUND: Pneumoconiosis is associated with pulmonary and cardiovascular diseases; however, the link between pneumoconiosis and sleep disorders is not well understood. This study aimed to investigate the connection between pneumoconiosis and subsequent risk of sleep disorders. METHODS: This population-based retrospective cohort study used data from the National Health Insurance database in Taiwan. The pneumoconiosis cohort consisted of 13,329 patients newly diagnosed between 2000 and 2015...

BACKGROUND: Systemic sclerosis is an autoimmune connective tissue disease characterized by fibrosis in skin and internal organs. Chronic exposure to silica may not only lead to silicosis of lungs but also systemic sclerosis. Systemic sclerosis is relatively commoner in females; however, occupational exposure to silica in males makes them vulnerable to silica--associated systemic sclerosis (Erasmus syndrome). OBJECTIVE: To describe the clinico-epidemiological aspects of systemic sclerosis in males in a retrospective cohort study...

KEY CLINICAL MESSAGE: Bilateral synchronous double primary lung cancer (sDPLC) is a rare disease in clinics. This study analyzed the clinical data of a patient with bilateral sDPLC, aiming to improve medical workers' understanding of the disease and avoid missed diagnosis and misdiagnosis. ABSTRACT: A 68-year-old male was admitted to the hospital with "intermittent cough and expectoration for two months." Enhanced chest computed tomography (CT) showed that the upper lobe of the left lung had a mass of high-density shadow, bronchial opening of the left lobe was thickened, lumen was narrow, and middle lobe of the right lung had a mass of high-density shadow...

Pneumoconiosis is one of the most serious occupational diseases worldwide. Silicosis due to prolonged inhalation of free silica dust during occupational activities is one of the main types. Cuproptosis is a newly discovered mode of programmed cell death characterized by the accumulation of free copper in the cell, which ultimately leads to cell death. Increased copper in the serum of silicosis patients, suggests that the development of silicosis is accompanied by changes in copper metabolism, but whether cuproptosis is involved in the progression of silicosis is actually to be determined...

Efficacious therapeutic options capable of resolving inflammatory lung disease associated with environmental and occupational exposures are lacking. This study sought to determine the preclinical therapeutic potential of lung-delivered recombinant interleukin (IL)-10 therapy following acute organic dust exposure in mice. Here, C57BL/6J mice were intratracheally instilled with swine confinement organic dust extract (ODE) (12.5%, 25%, 50% concentrations) with IL-10 (1 μg) treatment or vehicle control intratracheally-administered three times: 5 hr post-exposure and then daily for 2 days...