Journal of occupational medicine. : official publication of the Industrial Medical Association, 1979
Among 1216 workers who were employed in a polyvinyl chloride production factory and who had had n... more Among 1216 workers who were employed in a polyvinyl chloride production factory and who had had no previous dust exposure elsewhere, 20 cases of pneumoconiosis were found. Chest x-ray abnormalities were characterized by limited profusion, irregular type and low gravity. All 20 workers had been exposed to high PVC dust levels. The chest x-ray changes were observed after a minimum exposure of five years and, in a small percentage of cases, were associated with slight restrictive respiratory function impairments. Moreover, in the whole group of workers 388 cases (31.9%) were found with non-specific x-ray abnormalities mainly related to age and smoking.
In a mesothelioma lawsuit, the Public Prosecutor commissioned an expert evidence on the legal acc... more In a mesothelioma lawsuit, the Public Prosecutor commissioned an expert evidence on the legal accountability for the disease, because the patient experienced multiple exposures to asbestos in both occupational and environmental settings. To collect information on asbestos exposure from all available sources and to quantify the contribution of each source of exposure as a percentage of the total risk. We retrieved information on jobs done and asbestos exposure from a work colleague and a database maintained by the National Institute for Insurance of Occupational Accidents/Diseases, respectively. Information on environmental exposure was searched through the scientific literature. The contribution of each source of exposure was quantified with a method of risk apportionment, taking into account time elapsed since first and last exposure, intensity and frequency of exposure and carcinogenic potency of asbestos fiber mix. The subject worked in the maintenance of railway electrification ...
Italian law requires an extensive health surveillance of workers after cessation of their employm... more Italian law requires an extensive health surveillance of workers after cessation of their employment status in the case of occupational exposure to carcinogens, including asbestos. Nonetheless, Italian law does not specify the timeframe of these clinical checks, nor who has financial and organizational responsibility for this surveillance. A literature search confirmed a lack of consensus around the objectives and methods to follow up workers with past occupational exposure to asbestos. To develop an updated evidence-based methodology for an appropriate health surveillance programme. We present an overview of the field experience developed by the Veneto Region from 2000 to 2011, and new studies that could contribute to establishing a national policy for the medical surveillance of workers with past asbestos exposure. There were three specific topics: (1) definition of a reliable method to identify asbestos workers (through multiple sources and procedures that meet current confidenti...
The international journal of tuberculosis and lung disease : the official journal of the International Union against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease, 2010
London, 2003-2006. To investigate tuberculosis (TB) treatment completion failure in London and as... more London, 2003-2006. To investigate tuberculosis (TB) treatment completion failure in London and associated risk factors during 2003-2006. Cross-sectional analysis of treatment outcome and other explanatory variables in a cohort of TB patients reported to the London TB Register from 2003 to 2006. An innovative definition of TB treatment outcome more suitable for low-incidence industrialised countries, such as the United Kingdom, was adopted. A multivariable logistic approach was used to assess predictors of unsuccessful outcome. A total of 12,929 TB cases were notified from 2003 to 2006, of which 12% (n = 1536) failed to complete TB treatment. The proportion of cases failing to complete treatment showed a significant decrease from 2003 to 2006 (13% in 2003 vs. 10% in 2006). Males, the elderly, hospitalised patients, short- and long-term immigrants, Whites and the least deprived were more likely to fail to complete treatment. The proportion of TB treatment success in London exceeded th...
This study's purpose was to investigate, in a large cohort of adolescents, the prevalence and... more This study's purpose was to investigate, in a large cohort of adolescents, the prevalence and association of personal and family characteristics with having or considering body piercing or tattoo. We surveyed students from the Veneto Region of northeast Italy with a self-administered questionnaire that asked about body piercing and tattoo and about personal and family characteristics. Multinomial weighted regression analysis was used to generate adjusted relative risk ratios with 95% confidence interval (CI) for piercing and tattooing separately. A total of 4,277 of 4,524 surveyed students completed and returned a usable questionnaire. For piercing, the prevalence was 20%. Girls, students with a less educated father, and those dissatisfied with their physical appearance were more likely to be interested in and to have undergone this procedure. For tattooing, the prevalence was 6%. Boys and students whose father was younger than 48 were more likely to have experienced tattooing. ...
Statistics on occupational accidents provided by the Italian Institute for Occupational Diseases ... more Statistics on occupational accidents provided by the Italian Institute for Occupational Diseases and Accidents (INAIL, Italian acronym) include only events that occurred in workers with regular employment status. The aim of the study was to establish a procedure in order to estimate the rate of occupational accidents in non-European-Union (non-EU) workers with irregular employment status and/or irregular immigrant status. The sources of data were the clinical records of the Emergency Department of San Bonifacio Hospital, and the population data of District 4 of Local Health Authority 20 of Verona, which was considered the catchment area of this hospital. Among 419 cases of accidents occurred in the numerator of the rate. The denominator of the rate was estimated by calculating: (1) the subjects of working age resident in District 4 (= 83714); (2) the total number of non-EU workers, assuming that the percentage was similar to that in San Bonifacio Municipality (= 0.115); the number o...
International journal of immunopathology and pharmacology
Inhalation of polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) extracted from diesel exhaust particles (DEP) enha... more Inhalation of polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) extracted from diesel exhaust particles (DEP) enhances local (nasal) production of IgE in humans. The aim of the present research is to investigate whether in humans dermal exposure to PAHs which are not extracted from DEPs increases serum IgE, and whether host factors modify the immunologic effect. In thirty-two patients with acute psoriatic lesions, a cream containing 3% of coal tar (which holds a variety of PAHs) was applied to the skin for 24 hours. Serum IgE were measured before (IgE0) and four (IgE4) and eight (IgE8) days after application. Replicated means were compared by analysis of variance for repeated measures and by the Newman-Keuls' test. IgE0, IgE4 and IgE8 were 151.19, 159.69 (a 6% excess) and 170.90 kU/L (a 13% excess) respectively; pairwise comparison showed IgE8 was significantly higher than IgE0 (p<0.05). At multiple linear regression analysis, the percentage increase in serum IgE across observation days was t...
The aim of the present case-control study was to ascertain whether, in adults, yearly repeated an... more The aim of the present case-control study was to ascertain whether, in adults, yearly repeated anti-influenza vaccinations (AIV) enhance protection against cutaneous melanoma (CM), as do repeated febrile infections. Ninety-nine new cases of histologically confirmed CM and 104 healthy controls (matched to cases for sex, age, and skin colour) selected from the general population were examined in order to ascertain their skin type, the number of nevi on both arms, and the intensity of freckles on the face and the arms; in these subjects, a structured questionnaire was used to obtain information on age, sex, education, social class, exposure and susceptibility to sunlight, history of febrile infectious diseases, and vaccinations. The odds ratio (OR) and the 95% confidence interval (CI) were estimated by commonly used methods and by fitting models of logistic regression. The risk of CM was reduced in subjects with a history of febrile (temperature above 38.5 degrees C) infections in the ...
To evaluate the influence of individual susceptibility factors on the level of polyaromatic (PAH)... more To evaluate the influence of individual susceptibility factors on the level of polyaromatic (PAH) hydrocarbon DNA adducts and hypoxanthine guanine phosphoribosyl transferase (HPRT) mutants in peripheral lymphocytes, 70 coke-oven workers exposed to PAH were genotyped for four metabolic enzyme polymorphisms of potential importance in PAH metabolism. The examined genetic polymorphisms concerned glutathione S-transferases M1 (GSTM1; gene deletion; 96 workers), T1 (GSTT1; gene deletion), P1 (GSTP1; Ile-->Val substitution at codon 104 or Ile-->Val at codon 104 and Val-->Ala at codon 113), and microsomal epoxide hydrolase (EPHX; Tyr-->His substitution at codon 113 and His-->Arg at codon 139). The workers were classified in a high- and low-exposure group on the basis of urinary concentration of 1-pyrenol. The GSTM1 null genotype increased the number of DNA adducts in smoking coke-oven workers with high PAH exposure. DNA adducts were affected by PAH-exposure in non-smokers and...
Giornale italiano di medicina del lavoro ed ergonomia
An epidemiological study of mortality was carried out in the Province of Padua in a cohort of fam... more An epidemiological study of mortality was carried out in the Province of Padua in a cohort of family farmers. The subjects, identified from the SCAU files, were enrolled in the cohort if informations were available on complete registry data, date of beginning and of termination of farm work, size of farm, and number of dairy cattle. The 2,415 farmers selected were followed-up for mortality through the registry offices of their Communes of residence. The cause of death was obtained for the 541 decedents. The standardised mortality ratio (SMR) was the ratio between observed and expected mortality, calculated on the basis of the mortality rates in the regional general population. The lung cancer SMR was 0.54 (0.36-0.79; observed = 27) among the 1641 dairy farmers, and 0.78 (0.46-1.25; observed = 17) among the 774 arable farmers. Among dairy farmers, moreover, lung cancer SMRs showed a significant trend across the quartiles of length of work, number of cattle, area of farm, age at begin...
This investigation used a two-source capture-recapture method (CRM) for determining ascertainment... more This investigation used a two-source capture-recapture method (CRM) for determining ascertainment and undercounts of non-national priority listed hazardous waste sites in the states of Arizona, Maine and Pennsylvania. These findings suggest that ascertainment of hazardous waste sites vary greatly, with some more accurate (i.e., Maine) than others (i.e., Pennsylvania). These data suggest that nontraditional manufacturing states (e.g., Maine) have a higher ascertainment rate than traditional manufacturing states (e.g., Pennsylvania). These results indicate that resources for locating hazardous waste sites should be more heavily allotted to industrialized areas. We suggest that the CRM is a convenient, low cost and effective method for determining (1) the accuracy of previous estimates, and (2) the number of sites in a locale with 95% confidence intervals along with an estimate of the undercount. Findings suggest that estimates of hazardous waste sites should use the CRM to determine and improve accuracy.
Twenty-four incidental cases of mesothelioma, diagnosed in the province of Padova during the peri... more Twenty-four incidental cases of mesothelioma, diagnosed in the province of Padova during the period 1965-1976, were analyzed according to age characteristics. The results show that the incidence rate increases in the general population under study at the same rate as in other populations occupationally and non-occupationally exposed to carcinogenic fibers according to the time since first exposure. This finding suggests a similar neoplastic process independent of age, in different environmental situations.
The nutritional and immunological status have been evaluated in 28 consecutive patients with esop... more The nutritional and immunological status have been evaluated in 28 consecutive patients with esophageal cancer. Patients (21 male and 7 female), had a mean age of 61 years, ranging from 34 to 84 years. The tumor histological type was squamous in 25 patients. A melanoma, an oat cell carcinoma and a adenocarcinoma were observed in the remaining cases. The nutritional status was assessed by means of weight loss, triceps skinfold, midarm muscle circumference and serum levels of albumin and transferrin. On the basis of this data the patients were divided into two groups: A, 19 patients (68%), normal nourished group (or with a mild malnutrition) and B, 9 patients (32%) with a severe malnutrition. The immunological status was assessed by determining the lymphocyte absolute number (H-6000-Technicon), the T-Lymphocyte sub-populations (flow-cytometry with monoclonal antibodies--Ortho Diagnostic System) and the patient's response to intradermally placed recall antigens (Multitest Merieux)....
Journal of occupational medicine. : official publication of the Industrial Medical Association, 1979
Among 1216 workers who were employed in a polyvinyl chloride production factory and who had had n... more Among 1216 workers who were employed in a polyvinyl chloride production factory and who had had no previous dust exposure elsewhere, 20 cases of pneumoconiosis were found. Chest x-ray abnormalities were characterized by limited profusion, irregular type and low gravity. All 20 workers had been exposed to high PVC dust levels. The chest x-ray changes were observed after a minimum exposure of five years and, in a small percentage of cases, were associated with slight restrictive respiratory function impairments. Moreover, in the whole group of workers 388 cases (31.9%) were found with non-specific x-ray abnormalities mainly related to age and smoking.
In a mesothelioma lawsuit, the Public Prosecutor commissioned an expert evidence on the legal acc... more In a mesothelioma lawsuit, the Public Prosecutor commissioned an expert evidence on the legal accountability for the disease, because the patient experienced multiple exposures to asbestos in both occupational and environmental settings. To collect information on asbestos exposure from all available sources and to quantify the contribution of each source of exposure as a percentage of the total risk. We retrieved information on jobs done and asbestos exposure from a work colleague and a database maintained by the National Institute for Insurance of Occupational Accidents/Diseases, respectively. Information on environmental exposure was searched through the scientific literature. The contribution of each source of exposure was quantified with a method of risk apportionment, taking into account time elapsed since first and last exposure, intensity and frequency of exposure and carcinogenic potency of asbestos fiber mix. The subject worked in the maintenance of railway electrification ...
Italian law requires an extensive health surveillance of workers after cessation of their employm... more Italian law requires an extensive health surveillance of workers after cessation of their employment status in the case of occupational exposure to carcinogens, including asbestos. Nonetheless, Italian law does not specify the timeframe of these clinical checks, nor who has financial and organizational responsibility for this surveillance. A literature search confirmed a lack of consensus around the objectives and methods to follow up workers with past occupational exposure to asbestos. To develop an updated evidence-based methodology for an appropriate health surveillance programme. We present an overview of the field experience developed by the Veneto Region from 2000 to 2011, and new studies that could contribute to establishing a national policy for the medical surveillance of workers with past asbestos exposure. There were three specific topics: (1) definition of a reliable method to identify asbestos workers (through multiple sources and procedures that meet current confidenti...
The international journal of tuberculosis and lung disease : the official journal of the International Union against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease, 2010
London, 2003-2006. To investigate tuberculosis (TB) treatment completion failure in London and as... more London, 2003-2006. To investigate tuberculosis (TB) treatment completion failure in London and associated risk factors during 2003-2006. Cross-sectional analysis of treatment outcome and other explanatory variables in a cohort of TB patients reported to the London TB Register from 2003 to 2006. An innovative definition of TB treatment outcome more suitable for low-incidence industrialised countries, such as the United Kingdom, was adopted. A multivariable logistic approach was used to assess predictors of unsuccessful outcome. A total of 12,929 TB cases were notified from 2003 to 2006, of which 12% (n = 1536) failed to complete TB treatment. The proportion of cases failing to complete treatment showed a significant decrease from 2003 to 2006 (13% in 2003 vs. 10% in 2006). Males, the elderly, hospitalised patients, short- and long-term immigrants, Whites and the least deprived were more likely to fail to complete treatment. The proportion of TB treatment success in London exceeded th...
This study's purpose was to investigate, in a large cohort of adolescents, the prevalence and... more This study's purpose was to investigate, in a large cohort of adolescents, the prevalence and association of personal and family characteristics with having or considering body piercing or tattoo. We surveyed students from the Veneto Region of northeast Italy with a self-administered questionnaire that asked about body piercing and tattoo and about personal and family characteristics. Multinomial weighted regression analysis was used to generate adjusted relative risk ratios with 95% confidence interval (CI) for piercing and tattooing separately. A total of 4,277 of 4,524 surveyed students completed and returned a usable questionnaire. For piercing, the prevalence was 20%. Girls, students with a less educated father, and those dissatisfied with their physical appearance were more likely to be interested in and to have undergone this procedure. For tattooing, the prevalence was 6%. Boys and students whose father was younger than 48 were more likely to have experienced tattooing. ...
Statistics on occupational accidents provided by the Italian Institute for Occupational Diseases ... more Statistics on occupational accidents provided by the Italian Institute for Occupational Diseases and Accidents (INAIL, Italian acronym) include only events that occurred in workers with regular employment status. The aim of the study was to establish a procedure in order to estimate the rate of occupational accidents in non-European-Union (non-EU) workers with irregular employment status and/or irregular immigrant status. The sources of data were the clinical records of the Emergency Department of San Bonifacio Hospital, and the population data of District 4 of Local Health Authority 20 of Verona, which was considered the catchment area of this hospital. Among 419 cases of accidents occurred in the numerator of the rate. The denominator of the rate was estimated by calculating: (1) the subjects of working age resident in District 4 (= 83714); (2) the total number of non-EU workers, assuming that the percentage was similar to that in San Bonifacio Municipality (= 0.115); the number o...
International journal of immunopathology and pharmacology
Inhalation of polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) extracted from diesel exhaust particles (DEP) enha... more Inhalation of polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) extracted from diesel exhaust particles (DEP) enhances local (nasal) production of IgE in humans. The aim of the present research is to investigate whether in humans dermal exposure to PAHs which are not extracted from DEPs increases serum IgE, and whether host factors modify the immunologic effect. In thirty-two patients with acute psoriatic lesions, a cream containing 3% of coal tar (which holds a variety of PAHs) was applied to the skin for 24 hours. Serum IgE were measured before (IgE0) and four (IgE4) and eight (IgE8) days after application. Replicated means were compared by analysis of variance for repeated measures and by the Newman-Keuls' test. IgE0, IgE4 and IgE8 were 151.19, 159.69 (a 6% excess) and 170.90 kU/L (a 13% excess) respectively; pairwise comparison showed IgE8 was significantly higher than IgE0 (p<0.05). At multiple linear regression analysis, the percentage increase in serum IgE across observation days was t...
The aim of the present case-control study was to ascertain whether, in adults, yearly repeated an... more The aim of the present case-control study was to ascertain whether, in adults, yearly repeated anti-influenza vaccinations (AIV) enhance protection against cutaneous melanoma (CM), as do repeated febrile infections. Ninety-nine new cases of histologically confirmed CM and 104 healthy controls (matched to cases for sex, age, and skin colour) selected from the general population were examined in order to ascertain their skin type, the number of nevi on both arms, and the intensity of freckles on the face and the arms; in these subjects, a structured questionnaire was used to obtain information on age, sex, education, social class, exposure and susceptibility to sunlight, history of febrile infectious diseases, and vaccinations. The odds ratio (OR) and the 95% confidence interval (CI) were estimated by commonly used methods and by fitting models of logistic regression. The risk of CM was reduced in subjects with a history of febrile (temperature above 38.5 degrees C) infections in the ...
To evaluate the influence of individual susceptibility factors on the level of polyaromatic (PAH)... more To evaluate the influence of individual susceptibility factors on the level of polyaromatic (PAH) hydrocarbon DNA adducts and hypoxanthine guanine phosphoribosyl transferase (HPRT) mutants in peripheral lymphocytes, 70 coke-oven workers exposed to PAH were genotyped for four metabolic enzyme polymorphisms of potential importance in PAH metabolism. The examined genetic polymorphisms concerned glutathione S-transferases M1 (GSTM1; gene deletion; 96 workers), T1 (GSTT1; gene deletion), P1 (GSTP1; Ile-->Val substitution at codon 104 or Ile-->Val at codon 104 and Val-->Ala at codon 113), and microsomal epoxide hydrolase (EPHX; Tyr-->His substitution at codon 113 and His-->Arg at codon 139). The workers were classified in a high- and low-exposure group on the basis of urinary concentration of 1-pyrenol. The GSTM1 null genotype increased the number of DNA adducts in smoking coke-oven workers with high PAH exposure. DNA adducts were affected by PAH-exposure in non-smokers and...
Giornale italiano di medicina del lavoro ed ergonomia
An epidemiological study of mortality was carried out in the Province of Padua in a cohort of fam... more An epidemiological study of mortality was carried out in the Province of Padua in a cohort of family farmers. The subjects, identified from the SCAU files, were enrolled in the cohort if informations were available on complete registry data, date of beginning and of termination of farm work, size of farm, and number of dairy cattle. The 2,415 farmers selected were followed-up for mortality through the registry offices of their Communes of residence. The cause of death was obtained for the 541 decedents. The standardised mortality ratio (SMR) was the ratio between observed and expected mortality, calculated on the basis of the mortality rates in the regional general population. The lung cancer SMR was 0.54 (0.36-0.79; observed = 27) among the 1641 dairy farmers, and 0.78 (0.46-1.25; observed = 17) among the 774 arable farmers. Among dairy farmers, moreover, lung cancer SMRs showed a significant trend across the quartiles of length of work, number of cattle, area of farm, age at begin...
This investigation used a two-source capture-recapture method (CRM) for determining ascertainment... more This investigation used a two-source capture-recapture method (CRM) for determining ascertainment and undercounts of non-national priority listed hazardous waste sites in the states of Arizona, Maine and Pennsylvania. These findings suggest that ascertainment of hazardous waste sites vary greatly, with some more accurate (i.e., Maine) than others (i.e., Pennsylvania). These data suggest that nontraditional manufacturing states (e.g., Maine) have a higher ascertainment rate than traditional manufacturing states (e.g., Pennsylvania). These results indicate that resources for locating hazardous waste sites should be more heavily allotted to industrialized areas. We suggest that the CRM is a convenient, low cost and effective method for determining (1) the accuracy of previous estimates, and (2) the number of sites in a locale with 95% confidence intervals along with an estimate of the undercount. Findings suggest that estimates of hazardous waste sites should use the CRM to determine and improve accuracy.
Twenty-four incidental cases of mesothelioma, diagnosed in the province of Padova during the peri... more Twenty-four incidental cases of mesothelioma, diagnosed in the province of Padova during the period 1965-1976, were analyzed according to age characteristics. The results show that the incidence rate increases in the general population under study at the same rate as in other populations occupationally and non-occupationally exposed to carcinogenic fibers according to the time since first exposure. This finding suggests a similar neoplastic process independent of age, in different environmental situations.
The nutritional and immunological status have been evaluated in 28 consecutive patients with esop... more The nutritional and immunological status have been evaluated in 28 consecutive patients with esophageal cancer. Patients (21 male and 7 female), had a mean age of 61 years, ranging from 34 to 84 years. The tumor histological type was squamous in 25 patients. A melanoma, an oat cell carcinoma and a adenocarcinoma were observed in the remaining cases. The nutritional status was assessed by means of weight loss, triceps skinfold, midarm muscle circumference and serum levels of albumin and transferrin. On the basis of this data the patients were divided into two groups: A, 19 patients (68%), normal nourished group (or with a mild malnutrition) and B, 9 patients (32%) with a severe malnutrition. The immunological status was assessed by determining the lymphocyte absolute number (H-6000-Technicon), the T-Lymphocyte sub-populations (flow-cytometry with monoclonal antibodies--Ortho Diagnostic System) and the patient's response to intradermally placed recall antigens (Multitest Merieux)....
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