Quality of life of inpatients with coal workers' pneumoconiosis and its influential factors / 中华劳动卫生职业病杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the quality of life ( QOL) of inpatients with coal workers' pneumoconiosis( CWP) and analyse its influential factors, and to provide a theoretical basis for effective control measures.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Eighty-eight CWP patients in a hospital were included in the study. A questionnaire survey was conducted in them using a self-designed QOL scale. A database was established by software EpiData3.1, and the obtained data were statistically analyzed by software SPSS 16.0.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Of the 88 patients, 73( 82.9%) had middle-level QOL, with a mean QOL loss rate of 36.2%; the loss rates of physical function and somatic sensation were the highest ( 44.2% and 41.5%). The patients with stage II CWP had significantly lower physical function than those with stage I and III CWP; the physical function and social function of patients significantly decreased with age; the personal income, household income, and housing condition of the patients had a marked impact on their physical and psychological functions, and the housing condition and education level had a marked impact on their social function. The multivariate analysis showed that old age, low income,and poor housing condition were the main adverse factors for the QOL of inpatients with CWP.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>The QOL of inpatients with CWP declines significantly, and their QOL is related to the age, income, and satisfaction with housing condition.</p>

Investigation on occupational stress of workers in clean workshops of electric company / 中华劳动卫生职业病杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>The aim is to learn the situation of work stress, burnout and depression in clean workshops of electronic company by investigation, and provide the clues for the further interventions as well as the basic data for the future evaluation.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>The survey was carried out in a electronic company in Xishan,Wuxi city. The subjects including all the 395 employees in clean workshops and 205 in ordinary workshops were asked to fill in an anonymous cross-sectional questionnaire, in which the distributions of age, gender, job duration, working time and working strength were similar between two kinds of workshops. The response rate was 98.9%.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>There were no significant differences between clean and ordinary workshops in age, gender, smoking, drinking and working hours, except for employed years. It was not found that any differences between two kinds of workshop for the rates of burnout, depression and stress. However, the rates of burnout, depression and stress were 19.7%(77/391), 24.8%(97/391) and 88.5%(346/391) in clean workshops and 19.3%(39/202), 23.8%(48/202) and 84.6%(171/202) in ordinary workshops. There were no significant differences between two workshops for the scores of burnout and depression, but the stress score in clean workshops was higher than that of ordinary workshop (P = 0.015). Further stratified analysis found that stress score of male in clean workshop was higher than that of female (P = 0.002), while it was inverse in ordinary workshops (P = 0.034). In addition, the stress score of male in clean workshops was significantly higher than that of male in ordinary one (P = 0.003). The stress score of workers with age ≥22 year old was higher than that of age <22 in clean workshops, while the stress rate of workers with job duration ≥1.6 years was more than that of those with the shorter job duration. The risk of stress in clean workshops was as 3.78 times as ordinary one and the 95% confidence interval was 1.54∼9.31 after adjusted age and gender. There were negative correlations between stress and society support in both clean and ordinary workshops.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>The levels of work stress, burnout and depression were high in this electronic company. The stress in clean workshops was more serious than that of ordinary ones, especially for the males.</p>

Annexin A5 gene polymorphism (-1C/T) and the susceptibility to pneumoconiosis in coal works / 中华劳动卫生职业病杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To explore the role of -1C/T single nucleotide polymorphism within Annexin A5 gene in the genetic susceptibility to coal worker's pneumoconiosis (CWP).</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Four hundred and seventy CWP Han chinese patients and 428 Han chinese controls were enclosed in present case-control study. All subjects were exposed to coal dusts. The polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) was used to detect the -1C/T SNP in Annexin A5 gene for all subjects. The relationship between the -1C/T SNP in Annexin A5 gene and CWP was analyzed.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>CT/TT genotype in -1C/T SNP was associated with a significantly decreased risk of CWP, as compared with the CC genotype among subgroups exposed to coal dusts for ≥ 27 years (adjusted OR = 0.65, 95%CI: 0.44 - 0.98, P = 0.039) and patients with CWP at stage II (adjusted OR = 0.55, 95%CI: 0.34 - 0.90, P = 0.028).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>The results of present study suggest that the Annexin A5 -1C/T polymorphism may be involved in the development of CWP in Han Chinese coal miners.</p>

Clinical characteristics of the patients with occupational chronic carbon disulfide poisoning in a chemical fiber factory of Nanjing / 中华劳动卫生职业病杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To analyze the clinical characteristics of 267 cases with occupational chronic carbon disulfide (CS(2)) poisoning and to provide the basis for revising the items of periodical medical examination of workers occupationally exposed to CS(2).</p><p><b>METHODS</b>The subjects of present study were 267 patients with mild CS(2) poisoning diagnosed according to "Diagnostic Criteria of Occupational Chronic Carbon Disulfide Poisoning (GBZ4-2002)" from April in 2006 to May in 2010. All patients were from the same chemical fiber factory. When a subject was diagnosed as patient with CS(2) poisoning, who should interview with questionnaire which included the illness and occupational history, symptoms, individual habits. The physical examination, nervous test, cardiovascular test, biochemical test and electromyogram were performed.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The rate of decreased motor conduction velocity was 87.3% (233/267 roots). The highest detection rate of slowing conduction velocity was the common peroneal motor nerve which was 48.6% (138/248 roots) and the second was median motor nerve with delay rate of 37% (155/419 roots). The main symptoms of the patients were neurasthenia, numbness and paresthesia. The rates of abnormal achilles tendon reflex and knee jerk reflex in patients were were 79.4% and 49.8%, respectively. The detected rates of patients with ST-segment changes and hypertension were 19.1% and 27.5%, respectively. The rates of hypertension, systolic pressure and diastolic pressure were 27.3%, 22.5% and 21.1%, respectively. The rates of lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), triglycerides (TG) and low density lipoprotein (LDL) were high. The detected rates of urine acid, indirect bilirubin and total bilirubin in male patients were higher than those in female patients. In addition, the abnormal detected rate of urea nitrogen and indirect bilirubin increased with exposure years.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Occupational chronic CS(2) poisoning mainly affects the nervous system, as well as liver and kidney function. Detecting the median and common peroneal motor nerve conduction velocities could be the screening indicators for the peripheral nerve injury induced by CS(2) in the occupational exposure population during the periodical occupational medical examinations.</p>

Studing the health status of workers occupationally exposed to carbon disulfide / 中华劳动卫生职业病杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To study the effects of carbon disulfide (CS(2)) on the health of workers, and to provide the basis for the further preventive measures.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>The occupational health examination of 881 workers exposed to CS(2) in a chemical fiber factory was carried out according to the national technical standard of occupational health surveillance. The time weighted average concentrations (TWA) of CS(2) in the workshops of short silk and long silk exceeded the national standard, The workers in these two workshops served as the high exposure group. The workers of the other workshops were classified as low exposure group, in which TWA met the national standard. All exposed workers were also divided into long-term exposure group and short-term exposure group on the basis of average exposure years (16 years). The statistical analysis was used by t test, χ(2), and fisher exact test.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The symptom rates of numbness, fatigue, dizziness, insomnia and headache were 12.5%, 8.5%, 8.2%, 7.5%, and 7.2% respectively. The abnormal rates of superficial sensation, three fibrillation, achilles tendon reflex, patellar reflex, EMG, hypertension, triglycerides, low-density lipoprotein, and apolipoprotein B were 33.0%, 26.1%, 20.8%, 18.6%, 10.8%, 33.4%, 24.5%, 17.0% and 9.3% respectively. Among the high exposure group, the abnormal detectable rates of dizziness, headache, fatigue, insomnia, numbness, achilles tendon reflex, superficial and deep sensation, EMG, hypertension, ECG, total cholesterol, triglyceride and low density lipoprotein in long-term exposure group were significantly higher than those in short-term exposure group (P < 0.05 or P < 0.01). However, among the low exposure group, the abnormal rates of the insomnia achilles tendon reflex and superficial sensation in long term exposure group were significantly higher than those of short term exposure group (P < 0.05 or P < 0.01). The detected rates of hypertension, triglycerides, low-density lipoprotein, creatinine and uric acid were in males significantly greater than those in females (P < 0.05 or P < 0.01).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Long-term exposure to high concentrations of CS(2) could lead to the damage of nervous system, elevate blood pressure and promote the development and progression of hyperlipemia and atherosclerosis. Furthermore, CS(2) had greater effects on blood pressure and lipid in males than in females.</p>

Silica induced α-SMA expression in HBE cell line by targeting the PI3K/Akt pathway / 中华劳动卫生职业病杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To explore the role of the phosphatidylinositol 3 kinase/protein kinase B (PI3K/Akt) pathway in silica-induced α-SMA (α smooth muscle actin) expression in HEB (human bronchial epithelial) cell.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>The cultured HBE cells were divided into 5 groups: control, silica, PI3K inhibitor (Ly294002), both PI3K inhibitor (Ly294002) and silica at the same time and the inhibitor 24 h ahead of silica. The final concentrations of PI3K inhibitor and silica were 10 µmol/L and 100 µg/ml, respectively. Western blots were used to detect protein expressions of Akt, p-Akt, TGF-β and α-SMA. The location and expression of α-SMA were measured by immunofluorescence assay.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>HBE cell line exposed to silica can induce Akt phosphorylation, in which expressions of p-Akt were up regulated 1 times at 48 and the highest at 72 h. The expressions of TGFβ increased remarkably at 12 h and the peak at 48 h after silica exposure, while the expressions of α-SMA increased at 24 h and the highest at 72 h. However, the PI3K inhibitor (Ly294002) significantly down regulated α-SMA expression. When the cell line exposed to the PI3K inhibitor ahead of silica 24 h, the expressions of p-Akt and α-SMA were more remarkably down regulated which were decreased 1.5 times and 7.6 times respectively compare to silica exposure group. But no significant changes were found for TGFβ expressions. The immunofluorescence assay showed that silica can induce α-SMA expression, which located in cytoplasma, and PI3K inhibitor can decrease the expression.</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>Silica induced α-SMA expression in HBE cell line is by targeting the PI3K/Akt pathway and PI3K inhibitor can repress α-SMA expression.</p>

Polymorphisms in Fas pathway genes and risk of coal worker pneumoconiosis / 中华劳动卫生职业病杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To explore the possible association between six single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of Fas pathway genes and the risks of coal worker pneumoconiosis (GWP).</p><p><b>METHODS</b>This case-control study consisted of 511 male patients with CWP and 530 male controls from the same coal mines. Five SNPs of Fas pathway genes were detected by restriction fragment length polymorphisms (PCR-RFLP) and CASP3 (rs6948) was genotyped by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR).</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>There were no differences of genotype frequencies of 6 SNPs between cases with CWP and controls. A significant increased risk of CWP was found in subjects with CASP8-652DD genotype as compared to subjects with CASP8-652II genotype (P < 0.05), and the further stratification analysis showed that smoking cases with CWP stage I, long exposure time and CASP8-652DD genotype had high risk of CWP (P < 0.05). The analysis of gene-gene interactions indicated that the carriers with FAS-1377GG/CASP8-652DD, FAS-670AG/CASP8-652DD and FASL-844CT/CASP8-652DD had the increased risk of CWP, and the carriers with FAS-1377GA/CASP8-652ID had the reduced risk of CWP. There were no significant differences of exposure times among the cases with CWP stage I and 3 genotypes of CASP8-652.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>CASP8-652 6N DD genotype may play a role in CWP development and interact with SNPs of FAS-1377, FAS-670 and FASL-844.</p>

The analyses on dust pollution of one underground iron mine from 1991 to 2010 / 中华劳动卫生职业病杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>The main purpose of this work was to give the evidence of reasonable and feasible dust control measures which will be taken in the future by analyzing the trend of dust concentration from 1991 to 2010 and identifying working faces with the severe dust contamination in one underground iron mine.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>The data was from routine monitoring between the years 1991 and 2010, which enclosed the total dust concentrations and silica contents. China National Standard of Occupational exposure limits for hazardous agents in the workplace used to judge whether the dust concentration exceeded the National Standard.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The general trend of total dust concentration from 1991 to 2010 was decreased, especially maximum and average levels. The highest exceeding rate was 43.16% in 1993 and the best years were 2009 and 2010, but the exceeding rates were still over 30%. The dust exposure levels varied with different work faces. The mining and supporting were the most severe dust pollution faces which the highest ultra exceeding rates were 51.61% and 51.48% and the maximum exceeding times were 64.6 and 16.4 respectively. The next was constructing face with 40.23% exceeding rate and 24.6 times more than standard.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>The trend of total dust concentration from 1991 to 2010 was decreased, but the dust exceeding rate was still high. The strong measures should be taken to control the dust pollution in this iron mine, especially mining and supporting faces.</p>

Analysis on the incidence of coal workers' pneumoconiosis from 2003 to 2008 in a coal mining group / 中华劳动卫生职业病杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>Analyzed associations among the incidence of coal workers' pneumoconiosis from 2003 to 2008, jobs, exposure years and cumulative total dust exposure levels (CTE) and found the current characteristics of the mine incidence of pneumoconiosis disease.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>collected the health care information of the new diagnosed pneumoconiosis of underground mine workers from 2003 to 2008 and the dust monitoring data of underground mine from 1949 and estimated the personnel cumulative total dust exposure levels (CTE); analyzed the incidence features of the new diagnosed pneumoconiosis.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The rates of health surveillance of workers were gradually improved from 2003 to 2008 and 296 new coal workers pneumoconiosis were diagnosed. The total incidence was 0.57%, and the average annual rate was 0.32%. Among the new diagnosed cases, phase I accounted for 90.5% and the 87.2% from coal mine drillers. The shortest exposure period was 3 years and the longest was 38 years, and the cumulative total dose of dust was varied between 86.1 and 4926 mg/m(3) per year. The total dust accumulated limited dose was calculated by the percentile method to prevent 99% of miners from pneumoconiosis, which was 120.6 mg/m(3) per year, so we suggested that the exposure years should be shorter than 13 years under the current working conditions.</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>Preventive coal workers' pneumoconiosis should be focused on mine drillers and their limited exposure years should be within 13 years.</p>

SMAD4 gene polymorphisms and genetic susceptibility of coal work's pneumoconiosis / 中华劳动卫生职业病杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>to explore whether 6 tagging single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) within SMAD4 gene were involved in the genetic susceptibility of coal worker's pneumoconiosis (CWP) by case-control study.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>this study consisted of 438 CWP patients and 448 controls. All study subjects were Han Chinese, underground coal miners and recruited from coal mines of Xuzhou Mining Business Group Co Ltd. The 5 ml venous blood sample was obtained from all studied subjects and extracted genome DNA from the isolated leucocytes. Six SNPs were selected from the HapMap and detected by polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP).</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>the single SNP analyses showed that the genotype frequencies of SMAD4 (rs10502913) was significantly different from those in controls (P < 0.05). Multivariate logistic regression analyses revealed that SMAD4 (rs10502913) AA genotype was associated with increased risk of CWP (adjusted OR = 1.63, 95%CI = 1.00 - 2.69, P = 0.05) and this was evident among subgroups of those smoker (adjusted OR = 2.28, 95%CI = 1.09 ∼ 4.80, P < 0.05) and cases with stage I (adjusted OR = 2.42, 95%CI = 1.41 ∼ 4.14, P < 0.01). The SMAD4 (rs9304407) GG genotype was associated with an decreased risk of CWP (adjusted OR = 0.65, 95%CI = 0.43 ∼ 0.98, P < 0.05) and the further stratification analysis showed that the risk of CWP was decreased in nonsmoking groups.</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>our results suggest that individuals with the SMAD4 (rs10502913) AA genotype was associated with an increased risk of CWP. However, carriers of SMAD4 (rs9304407) GG genotype have a protective effect on the developing CWP.</p>

Relationship between FAS/FASL gene polymorphisms and susceptibility of coal worker's pneumoconiosis / 中华劳动卫生职业病杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the effects of FAS and FASL gene polymorphisms on genetic susceptibility of coal worker's pneumoconiosis and their relationship to the pulmonary fibrosis.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>340 with coal worker's pneumoconiosis (CWP) and 312 coal mine workers (controls) exposed to the coal dusts were selected. FAS-1377G > A, FAS-670A > G and FASL-844T > C gene polymorphisms were analyzed by PCR-RFLP techniques.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The distribution frequencies of genotypes of FAS-1377, FAS-670, FASL-844 genotypes in CWP had no significant differences compared to the control. Compared to CWP patients with exposure year > or = 25, the risk of pneumoconiosis with FAS-1377 GA/AA genotype was significantly higher than those with FAS-1377GG in the patients working age < 25 years (P = 0.098, 95% CI: 0.932 approximately 2.298); the risk of CWP in those with FAS-670AG genotype was higher than those with FAS-670GG genotype (P = 0.098, 95% CI: 0.928 approximately 2.404) the risks of CWP in those with FASL-844TT genotype and FASL-844TC genotype were respectively higher than those with FASL-844CC genotype (P = 0.039, 95% CI: 1.088 approximately 27.358, P = 0.089, 95% CI: 0.852 approximately 2.101). The frequencies of genotypes of FASL-844T > C were significantly different between CWP patients with exposure year > or = 25 and < 25. The risk of CWP with FASL-844TT genotype was significantly higher than that of FASL-844TT + TC (P = 0.054, 95% CI: 0.971 approximately 23.833). The risk of CWP patients with FASL-844TT/CT + FAS-1377GA genotype was 1.810-fold than the patients with FASL-844CC + FAS-1377GG genotype. The risk of CWP patients with FASL-844TT/CT + FAS-670AG genotype was 2.117-fold than the patients with FASL-844CC + FAS-670AA genotype. The risk of CWP patients with FASL-844TT/TC + FAS-1377GA/AA + FAS-670AG/GG genotype was 2.043-fold than the patients with FASL-844CC + FAS-1377GG+FAS-670AA genotype.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>FAS-1377G > A, FAS-670A > G and FASL-844T > C gene polymorphisms may not be associated with the susceptibility of CWP in Han nationality, but these three gene polymorphisms and their joint actions may influence on the progression of CWP.</p>

Associations of blood pressure and arterial compliance with occupational noise exposure in female workers of textile mill / 中华医学杂志(英文版)

<p><b>BACKGROUND</b>There are few studies on the arterial compliance of noise exposure. The purpose of this study was to understand the relationship between hearing loss, blood pressure and arterial compliance of female workers who exposed to occupational noise in a textile mill.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>The noise levels in the workplace were measured with a HS6288 sound level meter. Cumulated noise exposure (CNE) was calculated according to the noise intensity and the exposure period. Hearing ability and arterial compliance were measured in 618 noise exposed workers. The database was set up with EpiData and the statistical analysis was performed with SAS software 9.1.3.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The noise levels were 80.1dB (A) to 113.5dB (A), of which the levels at 92.5% of the noise monitoring sites were over the national standard. The incidence of high frequency hearing loss (HFHL) was 24.43% and language frequency hearing impairment (LFHI) was 0.81%. The incidence of hypertension was 7.93%. Both systolic blood pressure (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) in the high frequency hearing loss group were significantly higher than those in the normal hearing group (P < 0.05), while C(1) (large artery compliance) and C(2) (small artery compliance) were significantly lower (P < 0.05). The high frequency hearing threshold (HFHT) of the hypertension group was significantly higher than in the normal blood pressure group (P < 0.05), while C(1) and C(2) were significantly lower (P < 0.05). C(1) and C(2) had a negative correlation with HFHT, SBP, DBP, mean of arterial pressure (MAP), pulse pressure (PP) and pulse rate (PR) (P < 0.05). The multiple regression analyses showed that blood pressure and PR were the main influencing factors on C(1) and C(2). LFHT was an influence on C(2) and HFHT on C(1).</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>Textile mill noise pollution is very serious and has an obvious influence on worker's auditory function. The female workers with low artery compliance or with high blood pressure might be suffering from hearing loss; those with noise induced hearing loss might be suffering from hypertension if she is constantly exposed to loud industrial noise.</p>

Relationship between the aldosterone synthase (CYP11B2)-344C/T polymorphism and small artery compliance / 中华心血管病杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the relationship between the aldosterone synthase (CYP11B2)-344C/T polymorphism and small artery compliance (C(2)).</p><p><b>METHODS</b>C(2) was measured by CVProfilor DO-2020 in 224 subjects, including 123 subjects with an abnormal C(2) and 101 normal controls. Genotypes of CYP11B2 were determined by polymerase chain reaction-based restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The frequencies of the CYP11B TT genotype and T allele in subjects with an abnormal C(2) were slightly higher than in normal controls, but the differences did not reach statistical significance (55.3% vs 41.6%, P > 0.05, 75.6% vs 66.8%, P > 0.05. However, when CT was combined with CC, the frequency of TT in subjects with an abnormal C(2) was significantly higher than in normal controls (P < 0.05). By CANOVA, TT subjects had a lower C(2) than CT and CC subjects (P < 0.05). Logistic regression analysis revealed that TT genotype was associated with abnormal C(2) (P = 0.043, OR = 1.93 95% CI 1.02-3.63).</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>The CYP11B-344C/T polymorphism is associated with small artery compliance, and TT subjects are susceptible to abnormality of small arterial compliance.</p>