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Biochemistry. Biokhimiia Jan 2004Conflicting evidence has been reported as to whether nitric oxide (NO) possesses anti-inflammatory or inflammatory properties. Data are presented indicating that in... (Review)
Review
Conflicting evidence has been reported as to whether nitric oxide (NO) possesses anti-inflammatory or inflammatory properties. Data are presented indicating that in vitro or in vivo exposure to selected occupational dusts, i.e., crystalline silica, organic dust contaminated with endotoxin, or asbestos, results in upregulation of inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) and the production of NO by alveolar macrophages and pulmonary epithelial cells. Nitric oxide production is associated temporally and anatomically with pulmonary damage, inflammation, and disease progression in response to occupational dusts. Blockage of inducible nitric oxide synthase by administration of NOS inhibitors or in iNOS knockout mice decreases the magnitude of injury and inflammation following in vivo exposure to silica, endotoxin, or asbestos. Therefore, NO may play an important role in the initiation and progression of pneumoconiosis.
Topics: Animals; Disease Progression; Dust; Inflammation; Nitric Oxide; Pneumoconiosis
PubMed: 14972015
DOI: 10.1023/b:biry.0000016348.34175.53 -
BMC Public Health Feb 2023Pneumoconiosis is the most prevalent occupational disease and displays different patterns in each province of China. Clarifying specific incidence patterns and temporal...
BACKGROUND
Pneumoconiosis is the most prevalent occupational disease and displays different patterns in each province of China. Clarifying specific incidence patterns and temporal trends in Zhejiang Province can help provide valuable information on the prevention of pneumoconiosis.
METHODS
Annual reports of pneumoconiosis for Zhejiang Province from 2006 to 2020 were extracted from the National Occupational Disease and Occupational Health Information Monitoring System. The information of cases included regions, diagnosis ages, genders, exposure durations, pneumoconiosis categories and stages, the first year of exposure, enterprise industries, scales and ownerships.
RESULTS
Totally 6037 new cases of pneumoconiosis were reported between 2006 and 2020, which increased at first and then gradually declined since 2013. Among all pneumoconiosis cases, silicosis accounted for the majority (72.17%). Most of the cases occurred in small-scale and domestic-funded enterprises, which accounted for 71.75% and 96.97%, respectively. When analyzing the industry distribution, the cases were mainly concentrated in mining (37.12%), manufacturing (31.11%) and 'public administration and social organization' (23.94%) industry. The average diagnosis age among the pneumoconiosis cases was 55.44 years, and the median exposure duration was 11.00 years. Significantly older diagnosis age and longer exposure duration were found in females, coal workers' pneumoconiosis cases, cases with higher stages, cases with the first year of dust exposure earlier and cases from large-scale companies. In regional distribution, the top three cities reporting the most pneumoconiosis cases in Zhejiang Province were Taizhou, Quzhou and Hangzhou.
CONCLUSION
The current situation of pneumoconiosis in Zhejiang Province was still serious, and government should further strengthen the surveillance of occupational diseases and supervision of enterprises. Moreover, publicity and education regarding pneumoconiosis should be carried out to raise awareness of dust exposure risk and associated health consequences.
Topics: Female; Humans; Male; Middle Aged; Pneumoconiosis; Occupational Diseases; Silicosis; Anthracosis; China; Dust; Coal Mining
PubMed: 36814237
DOI: 10.1186/s12889-023-15277-8 -
Thorax Apr 1983
Topics: Coal Mining; Humans; Pneumoconiosis; United Kingdom
PubMed: 6867974
DOI: 10.1136/thx.38.4.241 -
International Journal of Environmental... Nov 2022The purpose of this study is to see if exfoliative pulmonary airway pathology in cancer-free coal workers' pneumoconiosis (CWP) can be used as a biomarker for predicting...
BACKGROUND
The purpose of this study is to see if exfoliative pulmonary airway pathology in cancer-free coal workers' pneumoconiosis (CWP) can be used as a biomarker for predicting pulmonary morbidity.
METHODS
We investigated persistent metaplastic changes in bronchoscopic washing cytology and differential cell counts in bronchoalveolar lavages (BAL) in 97 miners with CWP and 80 miners without CWP as the control. Clinicopathological parameters were examined including pulmonary function tests and the presence of progressive massive fibrosis.
RESULTS
When compared to the control group, severe alveolitis, severe goblet cell hyperplasia (GCH), severe hyperplastic epithelial change, and severe squamous metaplasia were the distinguishing biomarkers in CWP. Multivariate analysis revealed that severe alveolitis and severe GCH, along with miner duration and current smoker, were independent predictors of pulmonary mortality. The survival analysis revealed a significantly different survival rate between the three groups: no evidence of severe alveolitis and severe GCH, presence of severe alveolitis or severe GCH but not both, and both severe alveolitis and severe GCH.
CONCLUSIONS
The severities of alveolitis and goblet cell hyperplasia in the bronchoscopic study are independent prognostic factors for CWP. A pathologic grading system based on these two parameters could be used in the stratification and clinical management of CWP patients.
Topics: Humans; Coal Mining; Prognosis; Hyperplasia; Anthracosis; Pneumoconiosis; Coal
PubMed: 36429692
DOI: 10.3390/ijerph192214975 -
Revista Portuguesa de Pneumologia 2017
Topics: Charcoal; Dust; Humans; Male; Middle Aged; Pneumoconiosis
PubMed: 28365221
DOI: 10.1016/j.rppnen.2017.02.006 -
International Journal of Environmental... Sep 2022Pneumoconiosis is a group of occupational lung diseases induced by mineral dust inhalation and subsequent lung tissue reactions. It can eventually cause irreparable lung...
Pneumoconiosis is a group of occupational lung diseases induced by mineral dust inhalation and subsequent lung tissue reactions. It can eventually cause irreparable lung damage, as well as gradual and permanent physical impairments. It has affected millions of workers in hazardous industries throughout the world, and it is a leading cause of occupational death. It is difficult to diagnose early pneumoconiosis because of the low sensitivity of chest radiographs, the wide variation in interpretation between and among readers, and the scarcity of B-readers, which all add to the difficulty in diagnosing these occupational illnesses. In recent years, deep machine learning algorithms have been extremely successful at classifying and localising abnormality of medical images. In this study, we proposed an ensemble learning approach to improve pneumoconiosis detection in chest X-rays (CXRs) using nine machine learning classifiers and multi-dimensional deep features extracted using CheXNet-121 architecture. There were eight evaluation metrics utilised for each high-level feature set of the associated cross-validation datasets in order to compare the ensemble performance and state-of-the-art techniques from the literature that used the same cross-validation datasets. It is observed that integrated ensemble learning exhibits promising results (92.68% accuracy, 85.66% Matthews correlation coefficient (MCC), and 0.9302 area under the precision-recall (PR) curve), compared to individual CheXNet-121 and other state-of-the-art techniques. Finally, Grad-CAM was used to visualise the learned behaviour of individual dense blocks within CheXNet-121 and their ensembles into three-color channels of CXRs. We compared the Grad-CAM-indicated ROI to the ground-truth ROI using the intersection of the union (IOU) and average-precision (AP) values for each classifier and their ensemble. Through the visualisation of the Grad-CAM within the blue channel, the average IOU passed more than 90% of the pneumoconiosis detection in chest radiographs.
Topics: Algorithms; Dust; Humans; Lung Diseases; Pneumoconiosis; X-Rays
PubMed: 36141457
DOI: 10.3390/ijerph191811193 -
Occupational and Environmental Medicine Nov 2020Work-related lung diseases (WRLDs) are entirely preventable. To assess the impact of WRLDs on the US transplant system, we identified adult lung transplant recipients...
OBJECTIVES
Work-related lung diseases (WRLDs) are entirely preventable. To assess the impact of WRLDs on the US transplant system, we identified adult lung transplant recipients with a WRLD diagnosis specified at the time of transplant to describe demographic, payer and clinical characteristics of these patients and to assess post-transplant survival.
METHODS
Using US registry data from 1991 to 2018, we identified lung transplant recipients with WRLDs including coal workers' pneumoconiosis, silicosis, asbestosis, metal pneumoconiosis and berylliosis.
RESULTS
The frequency of WRLD-associated transplants has increased over time. Among 230 lung transplants for WRLD, a majority were performed since 2009; 79 were for coal workers' pneumoconiosis and 78 were for silicosis. Patients with coal workers' pneumoconiosis were predominantly from West Virginia (n=31), Kentucky (n=23) or Virginia (n=10). States with the highest number of patients with silicosis transplant were Pennsylvania (n=12) and West Virginia (n=8). Patients with metal pneumoconiosis and asbestosis had the lowest and highest mean age at transplant (48.8 and 62.1 years). Median post-transplant survival was 8.2 years for patients with asbestosis, 6.6 years for coal workers' pneumoconiosis and 7.8 years for silicosis. Risk of death among patients with silicosis, coal workers' pneumoconiosis and asbestosis did not differ when compared with patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis.
CONCLUSIONS
Lung transplants for WRLDs are increasingly common, indicating a need for primary prevention and surveillance in high-risk occupations. Collection of patient occupational history by the registry could enhance case identification and inform prevention strategies.
Topics: Berylliosis; Humans; Kaplan-Meier Estimate; Lung Diseases; Lung Transplantation; Male; Middle Aged; Occupational Diseases; Pneumoconiosis; Registries; Silicosis; Survival Analysis; United States
PubMed: 32859693
DOI: 10.1136/oemed-2020-106578 -
Mediators of Inflammation 2011Oxidants such as superoxide anion, hydrogen peroxide, and myeloperoxidase from activated inflammatory cells in the lower respiratory tract contribute to inflammation and... (Review)
Review
Oxidants such as superoxide anion, hydrogen peroxide, and myeloperoxidase from activated inflammatory cells in the lower respiratory tract contribute to inflammation and injury. Etiologic agents include inorganic particulates such as asbestos, silica, or coal mine dust or mixtures of inorganic dust and combustion materials found in World Trade Center dust and smoke. These etiologic agents are phagocytosed by alveolar macrophages or bronchial epithelial cells and release chemotactic factors that recruit inflammatory cells to the lung. Chemotactic factors attract and activate neutrophils, eosinophils, mast cells, and lymphocytes and further activate macrophages to release more oxidants. Inorganic dusts target alveolar macrophages, World Trade Center dust targets bronchial epithelial cells, and eosinophils characterize tropical pulmonary eosinophilia (TPE) caused by filarial organisms. The technique of bronchoalveolar lavage in humans has recovered alveolar macrophages (AMs) in dust diseases and eosinophils in TPE that release increased amounts of oxidants in vitro. Interestingly, TPE has massively increased eosinophils in the acute form and after treatment can still have ongoing eosinophilic inflammation. A course of prednisone for one week can reduce the oxidant burden and attendant inflammation and may be a strategy to prevent chronic TPE and interstitial lung disease.
Topics: Animals; Bronchiolitis Obliterans; Dust; Humans; Lung Diseases, Interstitial; Oxidants; Pneumoconiosis; Pulmonary Eosinophilia
PubMed: 22131646
DOI: 10.1155/2011/407657 -
International Journal of Environmental... Feb 2019This study aims to describe the characteristics and trends of pneumoconiosis in the Jiangsu Province, China, and provide information for the occupational diseases...
This study aims to describe the characteristics and trends of pneumoconiosis in the Jiangsu Province, China, and provide information for the occupational diseases control. We collected and analyzed the data of pneumoconiosis cases reported annually from 2006 to 2017. The information of the cases mainly includes case distributions, clinical types and stages, enterprise types and scales, as well as diagnosis age and exposure duration. A total of 9243 pneumoconiosis cases were reported between 2006 and 2017, among which silicosis and coal workers' pneumoconiosis accounted for the vast majority (87.5%). The incidence of pneumoconiosis was relatively higher in Wuxi, Yancheng, Suzhou and Xuzhou, compared to the other district. Most pneumoconiosis cases occurred in the state-owned (58.4%) and collective enterprises (23.8%). Most cases worked in industries related to geology and coal production. The median exposure duration and diagnosis age of the total pneumoconiosis cases was 13.2 and 61.0 years, respectively. Therefore, more measurements are needed to control pneumoconiosis in the Jiangsu Province.
Topics: Adult; Age of Onset; Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Anthracosis; China; Humans; Incidence; Industry; Middle Aged; Occupational Exposure; Pneumoconiosis; Silicosis
PubMed: 30717363
DOI: 10.3390/ijerph16030437 -
BMJ Open Oct 2021This study was conducted to explore the association between pneumoconiosis and pneumothorax.
OBJECTIVES
This study was conducted to explore the association between pneumoconiosis and pneumothorax.
DESIGN
Retrospective cohort study.
SETTING
Nationwide population-based study using the Taiwan National Health Insurance Database.
PARTICIPANTS
A total of 2333 pneumoconiosis patients were identified (1935 patients for propensity score (PS)-matched cohort) and matched to 23 330 control subjects by age and sex (7740 subjects for PS-matched cohort).
PRIMARY AND SECONDARY OUTCOME MEASURES
The incidence and the cumulative incidence of pneumothorax.
RESULTS
Both incidence and the cumulative incidence of pneumothorax were significantly higher in the pneumoconiosis patients as compared with the control subjects (p<0.0001). For multivariable Cox regression analysis adjusted for age, sex, residency, income level and other comorbidities, patients with pneumoconiosis exhibited a significantly higher risk of pneumothorax than those without pneumoconiosis (HR 3.05, 95% CI 2.18 to 4.28, p<0.0001). The male sex, heart disease, peripheral vascular disease, chronic pulmonary disease and connective tissue disease were risk factors for developing pneumothorax in pneumoconiosis patients.
CONCLUSIONS
Our study revealed a higher risk of pneumothorax in pneumoconiosis patients and suggested potential risk factors in these patients. Clinicians should be aware about the risk of pneumothorax in pneumoconiosis patients.
Topics: Cohort Studies; Comorbidity; Humans; Incidence; Male; Pneumoconiosis; Pneumothorax; Proportional Hazards Models; Retrospective Studies; Risk Factors; Taiwan
PubMed: 34625418
DOI: 10.1136/bmjopen-2021-054098