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Zentralblatt Fur Arbeitsmedizin,... 2022The academic Occupational Medicine in Magdeburg celebrates its 50th anniversary. This article deals with the research activities of the institute since Prof. Böckelmann... (Review)
Review
The academic Occupational Medicine in Magdeburg celebrates its 50th anniversary. This article deals with the research activities of the institute since Prof. Böckelmann became director. The paper presents the activities of the institute's staff and guest researchers since 2008.
PubMed: 35996416
DOI: 10.1007/s40664-022-00478-6 -
The Annals of Thoracic Surgery Dec 2019
Topics: Delirium; Esophagectomy; Humans; Risk Factors
PubMed: 31761265
DOI: 10.1016/j.athoracsur.2019.04.075 -
Allergy Oct 2019Occupational exposure to foods is responsible for up to 25% of cases of occupational asthma and rhinitis. Animal and vegetable high-molecular-weight proteins present in... (Review)
Review
Occupational exposure to foods is responsible for up to 25% of cases of occupational asthma and rhinitis. Animal and vegetable high-molecular-weight proteins present in aerosolized foods during food processing, additives, preservatives, antioxidants, and food contaminants are the main inhalant allergen sources. Most agents typically cause IgE-mediated allergic reactions, causing a distinct form of food allergy (Class 3 food allergy). The allergenicity of a food protein, allergen exposure levels, and atopy are important risk factors. Diagnosis relies on a thorough medical and occupational history, functional assessment, assessment of sensitization, including component-resolved diagnostics where appropriate, and in selected cases specific inhalation tests. Exposure assessment, including allergen determination, is a cornerstone for establishing preventive measures. Management includes allergen exposure avoidance or reduction (second best option), pharmacological treatment, assessment of impairment, and worker's compensation. Further studies are needed to identify and characterize major food allergens and define occupational exposure limits, evaluate the relative contribution of respiratory versus cutaneous sensitization to food antigens, evaluate the role of raw versus cooked food in influencing risk, and define the absolute or relative contraindication of patients with ingestion-related food allergy, pollinosis, or oral allergy syndrome continuing to work with exposure to aerosolized food allergens.
Topics: Asthma, Occupational; Diagnosis, Differential; Disease Management; Disease Susceptibility; Food Handling; Food Hypersensitivity; Humans; Occupational Exposure; Respiratory Hypersensitivity; Risk Assessment; Risk Factors
PubMed: 30953601
DOI: 10.1111/all.13807 -
Revue Medicale Suisse Jun 2022Occupational medicine, witness to the industrial and economic evolution of societies, has observed over time the link between diseases and occupational exposures....
Occupational medicine, witness to the industrial and economic evolution of societies, has observed over time the link between diseases and occupational exposures. Nowadays, the transformation of societies brings out new risks, modulated by technical and organizational changes, and our knowledge of their impact on health is constantly evolving. The role of the occupational physician has not changed: he must question and observe in order to know and understand. Its purpose is the same, to prevent workers from falling ill because of their work. It remains essential to pay particular attention to the search for professional factors that may have influenced the disease since the identification and management of the cause is often the best treatment.
Topics: Humans; Male; Occupational Diseases; Occupational Exposure; Occupational Health; Occupational Medicine; Social Evolution
PubMed: 35770430
DOI: 10.53738/REVMED.2022.18.788.1291 -
International Journal of Environmental... May 2020This year marks 30 years of close collaboration between a consortium of institutions, namely, the Northwest Public Health Research Center, Saint-Petersburg (NWPHRC); the... (Review)
Review
This year marks 30 years of close collaboration between a consortium of institutions, namely, the Northwest Public Health Research Center, Saint-Petersburg (NWPHRC); the Institute of Community Medicine (ICM) of UiT (The Arctic University of Norway, Tromsø); the National Institute of Occupational Health (NIOH), Oslo; the University Hospital of Northern Norway (UNN) at Tromsø; and McMaster University (MU), Hamilton, ON, Canada. During the early years of cooperation, Dr. Chashchin was the Director of the Scientific Laboratory of the North-West Public Health Centre Branch of the NWPHRC located in the town of Kirovks in the Murmansk Region. The primary focus of this long-standing collaboration was to assess and address issues that are important for maintaining the health of the population living in the border areas of Russia and Norway and included the reduction of occupational health risks among workers employed in mining, metallurgical and machine-building enterprises located in the north-western region of Norway and the adjoining Kola Peninsula in Russia. These industrial activities constituted essential components of the local industries. The ongoing Russian-Norwegian cooperation in the field of occupational medicine is an excellent example of the effective combination of intellectual potential and research technologies of multiple countries. It has resulted in the development of a scientifically based set of measures for practical implementation, contributing to the improvement of working conditions and preservation of the health of workers employed at enterprises where the joint research was carried out.
Topics: Adult; Arctic Regions; Child; Cohort Studies; Environmental Health; Female; Humans; Infant, Newborn; Male; Norway; Occupational Medicine; Pilot Projects; Pregnancy; Russia
PubMed: 32486198
DOI: 10.3390/ijerph17113879 -
Journal of Occupational and... Feb 2022Transfer of military medical facilities to the Defense Health Agency is transforming the Military Health System. Our objective is to inform this transformation with...
OBJECTIVE
Transfer of military medical facilities to the Defense Health Agency is transforming the Military Health System. Our objective is to inform this transformation with respect to optimum application of occupational and environmental medicine (OEM) expertise.
METHODS
We defined and analyzed the external influences on military OEM practice using a structured framework to identify key drivers.
RESULTS
Key drivers are political and economic factors. These may change the size or military/civilian ratio of the specialty. Limited career development pathways should prompt consideration of making OEM a second or combined residency, and military-funded training of civilian physicians may be required. OEM specialist utilization should be reassessed.
CONCLUSIONS
OEM is a highly adaptable specialty defined by the needs of its stakeholders. Comprehensive analysis of external influences can ensure that OEM practice remains in step with changing needs.
Topics: Environmental Medicine; Humans; Internship and Residency; Military Personnel; Occupational Medicine; Physicians
PubMed: 35119425
DOI: 10.1097/JOM.0000000000002384 -
Revista Brasileira de Medicina Do... 2022Threshold limit values for chemical substances and biological exposure indices are the main tools used in occupational hygiene and occupational medicine to control... (Review)
Review
Threshold limit values for chemical substances and biological exposure indices are the main tools used in occupational hygiene and occupational medicine to control worker exposure levels. The correlation between these limits and indicators is of fundamental importance. The setting of new toluene exposure limits has raised discussion about which indicator to use. This article aims to enrich this debate with scientific data. Through a literature review, we provide a broad analysis of the factors that led to the lowering of the occupational exposure limit. Although internationally, biological indicators for toluene were replaced more than a decade ago, Brazilian authorities only began to discuss changing them in 2020. Toluene is a concern due to critical effects observed in exposed individuals, especially miscarriage. Urinary οrtho-cresol was suggested as the main biomarker in 2007. Given the broad data analysis, there are no doubts about the utility of οrtho-cresol as a biological indicator for toluene; what is lacking now is implementation of a monitoring system to comply with the legislation.
PubMed: 37101451
DOI: 10.47626/1679-4435-2022-715 -
The Journal of Allergy and Clinical... Jun 2022Work is a substantial contributing factor of adult-onset asthma. A subtype of occupational asthma (OA) is caused by irritant agents, but knowledge of the clinical...
BACKGROUND
Work is a substantial contributing factor of adult-onset asthma. A subtype of occupational asthma (OA) is caused by irritant agents, but knowledge of the clinical outcomes of irritant-induced asthma (IIA) is incomplete.
OBJECTIVES
To evaluate whether the clinical picture of IIA differs from that of sensitizer-induced OA.
METHODS
This retrospective study analyzed acute and subacute IIA patients diagnosed in an occupational medicine clinic during 2004 to 2018. Sixty-nine patients fulfilled the inclusion criteria, and their characteristics were analyzed at the time of the diagnosis and 6 months later. The results were compared with those of 2 subgroups of sensitizer-induced OA: 69 high-molecular-weight (HMW) and 89 low-molecular-weight (LMW) agent-induced OA patients.
RESULTS
Six months after the diagnosis, 30% of the patients with IIA needed daily short-acting β-agonists (SABA), 68% were treated with Global Initiative for Asthma, 2020 report (GINA) step 4-5 medication, and 24% of the patients had asthma exacerbation after the first appointment. IIA depicted inferiority to LMW-induced OA in daily need for SABA (odds ratio [OR]: 3.80, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.38-10.46), treatment with GINA step 4-5 medication (OR: 2.22, 95% CI: 1.08-4.57), and exacerbation (OR: 3.85, 95% CI: 1.35-11.04). IIA showed poorer results than HMW-induced OA in the latter 2 of these features (OR: 2.49, 95% CI: 1.07-5.79 and OR: 6.29, 95% CI: 1.53-25.83, respectively).
CONCLUSIONS
Six months after the OA diagnosis, a significant proportion of the patients with IIA remain symptomatic and the majority of these patients use asthma medications extensively suggesting uncontrolled asthma. The short-term outcomes of IIA appear poorer than that of sensitizer-induced OA.
Topics: Adult; Asthma, Occupational; Humans; Irritants; Occupational Diseases; Occupational Exposure; Odds Ratio; Retrospective Studies
PubMed: 35259533
DOI: 10.1016/j.jaip.2022.02.021 -
International Journal of Environmental... Apr 2020A sensor is a device used to gather information registered by some biological, physical or chemical change, and then convert the information into a measurable signal.... (Review)
Review
A sensor is a device used to gather information registered by some biological, physical or chemical change, and then convert the information into a measurable signal. The first biosensor prototype was conceived more than a century ago, in 1906, but a properly defined biosensor was only developed later in 1956. Some of them have reached the commercial stage and are routinely used in environmental and agricultural applications, and especially, in clinical laboratory and industrial analysis, mostly because it is an economical, simple and efficient instrument for the in situ detection of the bioavailability of a broad range of environmental pollutants. We propose a narrative review, that found 32 papers and aims to discuss the possible uses of biosensors, focusing on their use in the area of occupational safety and health (OSH).
Topics: Biosensing Techniques; Humans; Laboratories; Occupational Health
PubMed: 32260295
DOI: 10.3390/ijerph17072461 -
Military Medicine Oct 2022The lack of an integrated approach to data capture, information management, and analysis limits the contribution of occupational and environmental medicine to protecting...
The lack of an integrated approach to data capture, information management, and analysis limits the contribution of occupational and environmental medicine to protecting 2.3 million uniformed and civilian DoD workers. Despite an abundance of military information systems that include the terms "Safety" and "Occupational Health" in their names, none of these systems provide capabilities needed to aggregate and analyze the results of occupational medicine exams, use medical surveillance to mitigate exposure incidents, provide enterprise-level management of occupational medicine services, or comply with privacy and recordkeeping law and regulation. Instead, they provide a patchwork of data that meets most regulatory compliance requirements but fails to achieve the true objectives of occupational health programs. Bridging these capability gaps will improve the occupational health care of the DoD workforce, improve the quality of occupational medicine services, increase public trust in the DoD management of exposure incidents, and potentially generate hundreds of millions of dollars through cost-avoidance on workers' compensation claims and through identification and elimination of non-value-added medical certification exams. The ongoing Military Health System transformation represents a unique opportunity to bridge these long-recognized but persistent capability gaps.
Topics: Humans; Occupational Medicine; Workers' Compensation; Occupational Health; Certification; Health Information Management; Occupational Diseases
PubMed: 35880583
DOI: 10.1093/milmed/usac233