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Objective To investigate the effect of lead exposure on blood pressure of lead workers. Methods A total of 665 lead workers from some lead-acid battery enterprises in Wuhan were selected as the lead exposure group, and 708 ordinary workers without lead exposure were selected as the control group. The blood pressure in the workers of both groups was measured. The blood lead concentrations were measured in the lead-exposed group. The independent samples t-test was used to compare the blood pressure between the two groups. Linear regression model was used to analyze the relationship between the blood lead concentration and the blood pressure in the lead-exposed group. Logistic regression analysis was used to analyze the relationship between the risk of hypertension and blood lead concentration in lead-exposed group. Results The mean values of systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure and pulse in the lead exposure group were significantly higher than those in the control group, and the difference was statistically significant (P0.05). Linear regression analysis revealed that blood lead concentrations were significantly correlated with both systolic and diastolic blood pressure in the lead exposure group. For each increase of 1μg/L of blood lead concentration in the lead exposure group, the systolic blood pressure of lead workers increased by 0.011 mmHg, and the diastolic blood pressure increased by 0.007 mmHg. Logistic regression analysis found that men in the lead-exposed group had a higher risk of hypertension than women. The older the age and the higher the blood lead concentration, the higher the risk of development of hypertension. Conclusion There is a positive correlation between the blood lead concentration and the systolic and diastolic blood pressure in lead workers. The older the lead worker, the higher the risk of developing high blood pressure. The higher the lead concentration in lead workers, the higher the risk of developing high blood pressure.
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Background Exposure to tobacco dust or noise is associated with the risk of cardiovascular disease in workers, but there are few studies on their effects on workers' serum bilirubin levels. Objective To analyze the effects of combined exposure to tobacco dust and noise on workers' serum bilirubin levels. Methods We selected 824 employees from a large cigarette factory in Wuhan. According to the status of occupational hazards on site, we divided the participants into a control group (n=149), a tobacco dust exposure group (n=198), a noise exposure group (n=299), and a tobacco dust and noise combined exposure group (n=178). We collected general information of the participants. We collected blood samples and measured serum bilirubin. We used chi-square test to compare between-group categorical indicators. We used analysis of variance to compare measurement data. Taking the control group as the reference category, we used generalized linear regression model to analyze serum bilirubin concentration across the three exposure groups and the control group. Results The abnormal rates of serum indirect bilirubin concentrations in the control group, the tobacco dust exposure group, the noise exposure group, and the tobacco dust and noise combined exposure group were 6.04% (9/149), 12.63% (25/198), 13.38% (40/299), and 17.42% (31/178), respectively, showing a clear increasing trend (P<0.05). The mean concentrations of indirect bilirubin in the tobacco dust and noise combined exposure group were significantly higher than that in the tobacco dust and the noise groups (P<0.05). The serum indirect bilirubin concentrations in the tobacco dust exposure group, the noise exposure group, and the tobacco dust and noise combined exposure group were 1.833, 1.774, and 1.634 times higher than those of the control group (P<0.05). Conclusion Occupational exposure to tobacco dust or noise may associate with elevated serum total bilirubin concentration in cigarette factory workers, mainly indirect bilirubin concentration. Serum indirect bilirubin anomaly is higher among workers simultaneously exposed to tobacco dust and noise.
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Objective@#To investigate the effects of the interaction between occupational noise exposure and arterial stiffness on blood glucose, so as to provide insights into for early prevention of diabetes among workers exposed to occupational noise.@*Methods@#A total of 518 noise workers were selected from a tobacco plant in Wuhan City. Participants' gender, age and work duration were collected using questionnaire surveys, and participants' height and weight were measured. Blood glucose and arterial stiffness were detected, and the noise intensity was measured in working environments with a personal noise dosimeter. The effects of occupational noise exposure, arterial stiffness and their interactions on blood glucose were examined using a multiple linear regression model.@*Results@#A total of 518 workers were included, with 398 males (76.83%), a mean age of (40.85±10.68) years, a mean working age of (19.50±12.69) years, a mean body mass index of (23.66±3.31) kg/m2, and a mean blood glucose level of (5.15±0.99) mmol/L. There were 247 workers with occupational noise exposure (47.68%) and 175 workers with arterial stiffness (33.78%). Multiple linear regression analysis showed significant associations of noise (β'=0.112) and arterial stiffness (β'=0.168) with blood glucose, and there was an additive interaction between noise and arterial stiffness on blood glucose (β'=0.314).@*Conclusion@#The interaction between occupational noise and arterial stiffness affects blood glucose.
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Objective To investigate the relationship between occupational noise exposure and glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) levels, as well as prediabetes diagnosed by HbA1c. Methods A total of 1 181 workers from a cigarette factory were selected as the research subjects using a judgment sampling method. Workers were divided into control, low-level noise exposure and high-level noise exposure groups, consisting of 236, 359, and 586 individuals, respectively. The blood sample was collected for HbA1c test and occupation noise exposure intensity in workplace was detected by an area-sampling method. Results There were no statistical significant differences in HbA1c levels and prediabetes prevalence among the three groups of workers (all P>0.05). After adjusting for potential confounding factors such as years of service, gender, smoking, pack-years of smoking, alcohol consumption, and body mass index, multiple linear regression analysis showed that the high-level noise exposure group had higher HbA1c level than the control group (P<0.05). Multivariable logistic regression analysis results showed that the high-level noise exposure group had higher risk of prediabetes compared with the control group (P<0.05). Conclusion Occupational noise exposure could be a risk factor for the increased HbA1c levels and prediabetes incidence among the occupational population. More attention should be paid to the effects of occupational noise exposure on the HbA1c level in occupational health surveillance.
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Objective To investigate the correlation between smoking, white blood cell counts, and serum bilirubin levels in male radiation workers, and to explore the role of systemic inflammatory response in the changes of serum bilirubin level induced by smoking. Methods Occupational health examination data of 1 320 male radiation workers in a medical institution was collected. Linear regression analysis method was used to analyze the correlations between smoking and white blood cell counts, between smoking and serum bilirubin levels, and between white blood cell counts and serum bilirubin levels. Results There was a significant positive correlation between smoking and white blood cell counts (P 0.05). By dividing white blood cell counts into two groups, an inverse correlation was found between smoking and serum bilirubin levels in the high white blood cell count group (P < 0.05). Conclusion Serum bilirubin may be an effective indicator of early health damage caused by smoking in male radiation workers. Smoking may induce inflammatory reaction, thus deplete serum bilirubin and cause its levels to drop.
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OBJECTIVES@#Contrast-induced acute kidney injury (CI-AKI) is the third cause of hospital-acquired AKI, and existing clinical prevention and treatment measures such as hydration therapy and/or administration of antioxidants N-acetylcysteine treatment and other treatments still show little effect on the prevention and treatment of CI-AKI. This study aims to explore the effect of Danhong injection on prevention of CI-AKI.@*METHODS@#A total of 12 867 patients, who received coronary angiography, percutaneous coronary intervention, enhanced CT or vascular intervention in a tertiary hospital, were enrolled for this study. Among them, 423 in the treatment group received intravenous drip of Danhong injection, and 12 444 in the control group received routine medicine. Propensity score matching was conducted to balance confounding factors between the 2 groups and then the prevention effect of Danhong injection on CI-AKI was compared between them.@*RESULTS@#A total of 423 pairs of patients were matched successfully. The incidence of CI-AKI in the non-Danhong control group was higher than that in the Danhong treatment group (5.7% vs 2.4%). The difference between the 2 groups was statistically significant (@*CONCLUSIONS@#The results of this study support the use of Danhong injection in the prevention of the Stage 1 of CI-AKI.
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Humans , Acute Kidney Injury/prevention & control , Contrast Media/adverse effects , Drugs, Chinese Herbal , Injections , Percutaneous Coronary Intervention , Propensity Score , Risk Factors , Treatment OutcomeABSTRACT
High mobility group box 1 (HMGB1) is a nuclear protein that can bind to DNA and act as a co-factor for gene transcription. When released into extracellular fluid, it plays a proinflammatory role by acting as a damage-associated molecular pattern molecule (DAMP) (also known as an alarmin) to initiate innate immune responses by activating multiple cell surface receptors such as the receptor for advanced glycation end-products (RAGE) and toll-like receptors (TLRs), TLR2, TLR4 or TLR9. This proinflammatory role is now considered to be important in the pathogenesis of a wide range of kidney diseases whether they result from hemodynamic changes, renal tubular epithelial cell apoptosis, kidney tissue fibrosis or inflammation. This review summarizes our current understanding of the role of HMGB1 in kidney diseases and how the HMGB1-mediated signaling pathway may constitute a new strategy for the treatment of kidney diseases.
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Objective To explore the effects of atmospheric haze and air pollutants(PM10, PM2.5), SO2, NO2 on hospital visits for cardiovascular diseases. Methods The relationship among atmospheric haze, air pollution and the outpatients data of Guangzhou for cardiovascular disease had been investigated by collecting the air pollution data, the meteorological data and cardiovascular diseases’ outpatients data in Guangzhou city from January 1, 2006 to December 31,2008 . The time-series analysis by auto-regression model was used, controlling for long -term trends, seasonal patterns and meteorological variables. Results Auto-regression model showed that the number of outpatients in 2008 was higher than that in 2006.The number was larger in April and December compared with that in January, and it was higher on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday than on Saturday, Sunday. There was a positive correlation between the haze level and cardiovascular outpatients. The number of hospital outpatients increased by 2.12 units with each additional day of the atmospheric haze. The haze level (lag2) of the former second day had a negative impact on the intraday data of outpatients. The residual parts showed that outpatients’ residual data (AR1, AR3) of the former first and third day had a positive effect on intraday outpatients’ residual data (increased by 52.25%, 26.1%), while the outpatients’ residual data of the former second day (AR2) had a negative effect on outpatients’ residual data of the present day (decreased by 17%). In addition, a variety of air pollutants (PM10, PM2.5, SO2, and NO2) showed some positive correlation, and had hysteresis. Conclusion The atmospheric haze, generated from suspended particulate, meteorological factor and gaseous pollutants, is the environmental pathogenic factor for the cardiovascular diseases, while the effects of single air pollutant on the hospital visit for cardiovascular diseases can be weakened by the haze pollution.