Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0018799 (heart disease)
 34,133 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Ore containing cummingtonite-grunerite has been mined to extract gold since 1876 in Lead, South Dakota. Each of the 1,321 men who were recorded as having worked 21 years or more with the Homestake Mine was allocated to one of 5 dust-exposure categories on the basis of work history and available information on environmental conditions. All except 9 men were traced to the end of 1973, when 652 were still living; the cause of death was ascertained for 657 of the 660 men who had died. Deaths from cerebrovascular accidents and malignant disease were close to the numbers expected and from accidents and other causes were fewer than expected, but in each of the 3 diagnostic groups--pneumoconiosis (mainly silicosis), tuberculosis, and heart disease--there were more than 30 excess deaths. A clear dust-exposure relationship was found for pneumoconiosis and respiratory tuberculosis--with relative risks for the 2 groups with greatest exposure to dust as compared to the 2 with least exposure, of 19.9 and 16.0, respectively, but there was no convincing evidence of an increase in respiratory cancer.
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PMID:Mortality after long exposure to cummingtonite-grunerite. 21 90

Pathologic features and pathogenesis of coal workers' pneumoconiosis are reviewed. Roentenographic aspects of CWP have been examined; it is concluded that there is little or no correlation with physiologic abnormalities, and no abnormality is pathognomonic of this condition. It is suggested that coal workers who are physiologically disabled by any condition, usually heart disease or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease or both, be retired via an industry-government compensation plan. Chest roentgenograms should serve only to identify and retire those miners who have progressive massive fibrosis, and to identify those who have simple CWP; thus they may be moved to jobs in areas of the mine where dust concentrations are lower.
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PMID:Coal workers' pneumoconiosis. 32 Jun 73

The survival of 354 claimants for compensation for pulmonary asbestosis among former workers of the Wittenoom crocidolite mine and mill in Western Australia has been examined. There were 118 deaths up to December 1982. The median time between start of work and claim for compensation was 17 years. The standardised mortality ratio (SMR) for deaths from all causes was 2.65 (p less than 0.0001). The SMR for pneumoconiosis was 177.2 (p less than 0.0001), bronchitis and emphysema 2.6 (p = 0.04), tuberculosis 44.6 (p less than 0.0001), respiratory cancer (including five deaths from malignant pleural mesothelioma) 6.4 (p less than 0.0001), gastrointestinal cancer 1.6 (p = 0.22), all other cancers 1.6 (p = 0.17), heart disease 1.4 (p = 0.07), and all other causes 2.18 (p = 0.004). Plain chest radiographs taken within two years of claiming compensation were found for 238 subjects and were categorised independently by two observers according to the International Labour Organisation criteria without knowledge of exposure or compensation details. Profusion of radiographic opacities, age at claiming compensation, work in the Wittenoom mill, and degree of disability awarded by the pneumoconiosis medical board were significant predictors of survival, but total estimated exposure to asbestos was not. Radiographic profusion and degree of disability were, however, predictable by total exposure. The median survival from claim for compensation was 17 years in subjects with ILO category 1 pneumoconiosis, 12 years in category 2, and three years in category 3.
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PMID:Compensation, radiographic changes, and survival in applicants for asbestosis compensation. 299 May 24

Animal studies show that antimony may cause lung cancer and heart and lung disease in rodents. In exposed humans, ECG abnormalities and heart and lung disease have been reported. This mortality study of 1,014 men employed between 1937 and 1971 in a Texas antimony smelter consisted primarily of workers of Spanish ancestry (n = 928, 91.5%). Hispanics are known to smoke at much lower rates than non-Hispanics, and their lung cancer and heart disease mortality is generally low. When ethnic-specific Texas lung cancer death rates were used for comparison, mortality from lung cancer among antimony workers was elevated (SMR) 1.39, 90% CI 1.01-1.88), and we observed a significant positive trend in mortality with increasing duration of employment. When ischemic heart disease death rates from three different Spanish-surnamed populations were used for comparison, the rate ratios for mortality from ischemic heart disease were 0.91 (90% CI 0.84-1.09), 1.22 (90% CI 0.78-1.89), and 1.49 (90% CI 0.84-2.63). Pneumoconiosis/ other lung disease death rates for Spanish-surnamed men were unavailable and so calculation of rate ratios used white males as a comparison population (SMR 1.22; 90% CI 0.80-1.80). These data suggest some increased mortality from lung cancer and perhaps nonmalignant respiratory heart disease in workers exposed to antimony. However, conclusions are limited by possible confounders and the difficulty of identifying appropriate referent groups.
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PMID:Mortality in a cohort of antimony smelter workers. 761 10

Previous studies of mortality among white males employed in a Charleston, South Carolina asbestos textile plant using chrysotile demonstrated significant excess mortality due to asbestos-related disease and a steep exposure-response relationship for lung cancer. This cohort was further studied by adding 15 years of follow-up and including mortality among white female and black male workers. Nested case-control analyses were undertaken to further explore possible differences in lung cancer risk by textile operation as well as possible confounding by mineral oil exposures. Preliminary data for white males have been previously published. White males experienced statistically significant excess mortality due to lung cancer (standardized mortality ratio [SMR] = 2.30; confidence interval [CI] = 1.88-2.79), all causes (SMR = 1.48; CI = 1.38-158), all cancers (SMR = 1.50; CI = 1.29-1.72), diabetes mellitus (SMR = 2.05; CI = 1.18-3.33), heart disease (SMR = 1.41; CI = 1.26-1.58), cerebrovascular disease (SMR = 1.50; CI = 1.08-2.02), pneumoconiosis and other respiratory diseases (SMR = 4.10; CI = 3.10-5.31), and accidents (SMR = 1.49; CI = 1.15-1.91). Among white females, statistically significant excesses occurred for lung cancer (SMR = 2.75; CI = 2.06-3.61), all causes (SMR = 1.21; CI = 1.11-1.32), pneumoconiosis and other respiratory diseases (SMR = 2.40; CI = 1.53-3.60), and other respiratory cancers (SMR = 14.98; CI = 4.08-38.7). Among the total cohort of black males, the only statistically significant excess observed was for pneumoconiosis (SMR = 2.19; CI = 1.23-3.62). Based on historical exposure measurements at the plant, there was a positive exposure-response relationship for both lung cancer and pneumoconiosis. Data for the entire cohort demonstrate an increase in the lung cancer relative risk of 2-3% for each fiber/cc-year of cumulative chrysotile exposure. This relationship was more consistent for the white male workers. The excess risk for lung cancer among white males and females appeared to occur at cumulative exposures lower than those for black males. Possible reasons for the lesser lung cancer risk among black males include less smoking and differences in airborne fiber characteristics experienced by black males as a result of plant job placement patterns. The case-control analysis found employment in preparation and carding operations (where most of the black males worked) to be associated with a slightly reduced lung cancer risk, although not statistically significant, whereas spinning and twisting employment was associated with a statistically significant increased lung cancer risk compared to other plant operations.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)
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PMID:Follow-up study of chrysotile asbestos textile workers: cohort mortality and case-control analyses. 781 May 43

A cohort of some 11,000 men born 1891-1920 and employed for at least one month in the chrysotile mines and mills of Quebec, was established in 1966 and has been followed ever since. Of the 5351 men surviving into 1976, only 16 could not be traced; 2508 were still alive in 1989, and 2827 had died; by the end of 1992 a further 698 were known to have died, giving an overall mortality of almost 80%. This paper presents the results of analysis of mortality for the period 1976 to 1988 inclusive, obtained by the subject-years method, with Quebec mortality for reference. In many respects the standardised mortality ratios (SMRs) 20 years or more after first employment were similar to those for the period 1951-75--namely, all causes 1.07 (1951-75, 1.09); heart disease 1.02 (1.04); cerebrovascular disease 1.06 (1.07); external causes 1.17 (1.17). The SMR for lung cancer, however, rose from 1.25 to 1.39 and deaths from mesothelioma increased from eight (10 before review) to 25; deaths from respiratory tuberculosis fell from 57 to five. Among men whose exposure by age 55 was at least 300 million particles per cubic foot x years (mpcf.y), the SMR (all causes) was elevated in the two main mining regions, Asbestos and Thetford Mines, and for the small factory in Asbestos; so were the SMRs for lung cancer, ischaemic heart disease, cerebrovascular disease, and respiratory disease other than pneumoconiosis. Except for lung cancer, however, there was little convincing evidence of gradients over four classes of exposure, divided at 30, 100, and 300 mpcf.y. Over seven narrower categories of exposure up to 300 mpcf.y the SMR for lung cancer fluctuated around 1.27 with no indication of trend, but increased steeply above that level. Mortality form pneumoconiosis was strongly related to exposure, and the trend for mesothelioma was not dissimilar. Mortality generally was related systematically to cigarette smoking habit, recorded in life from 99% of survivors into 1976; smokers of 20 or more cigarettes a day had the highest SMRs not only for lung cancer but also for all causes, cancer of the stomach, pancreas, and larynx, and ischaemic heart disease. For lung cancer SMRs increased fivefold with smoking, but the increase with dust exposure was comparatively slight for non-smokers, lower again for ex-smokers, and negligible for smokers of at least 20 cigarettes a day; thus the asbestos-smoking interaction was less than multiplicative. Of the 33 deaths from mesothelioma in the cohort to date, 28 were in miners and millers and five were in employees of a small asbestos products factory where commercial amphiboles had also been used. Preliminary analysis also suggest that the risk of mesothelioma was higher in the mines and mills at Thetford Mines than in those at Asbestos. More detailed studies of these differences and of exposure-response relations for lung cancer are under way.
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PMID:The 1891-1920 birth cohort of Quebec chrysotile miners and millers: mortality 1976-88. 828 Jun 38

This brief review has highlighted some of the research done by the MRC in the South Wales valleys. The two MRC Units published, in total, over 2000 reports ranging from letters to journals to conference proceedings, with around 200 reports appearing in the BMJ, Lancet and Nature alone. The expertise gained in South Wales meant that the Pneumoconiosis Research Unit team was involved internationally in co-ordinating research on coal workers' lung disease, and later on the health effects of asbestos and other respirable dusts. It is remarkable that the early large-scale studies were conducted and analysed without the benefits of modern computers and statistical packages. The varied Epidemiology Unit research programme enabled Cochrane to develop his ideas on defining health and evaluating health services, and also Elwood, who directed the Unit from 1974 to 1995, to pioneer studies of aspirin prophylaxis in cardiovascular disease. A steady stream of occupational health studies were carried out by Epidemiology Unit staff and many other large surveys were conducted in other parts of South Wales and across the country. Later MRC Epidemiology Unit work has focused on the town of Caerphilly where a prospective study of some 2500 men, established in 1979, has so far resulted in over 100 papers, notably on haemostatic factors related to heart disease. The study has run in tandem with a similar survey in the Speedwell area of Bristol which was established by former Epidemiology Unit staff working for the health authority in that area. Other medical research groups have also worked in the South Wales valleys. In 1961 Julian Tudor Hart left the Epidemiology Unit after a year's research to enter general practice, and establish the famous research practice at Glyncorrwg, over the mountain from the Rhondda Fawr. This year the extensive collection of MRC survey records is being transferred to the Department of Social Medicine at Bristol, and it is quite likely that further research will be undertaken relating Rhondda survey data collected over 40 years ago to subsequent mortality. The South Wales valleys will continue to contribute to medical research into the next millennium. Archie Cochrane's papers have been catalogued and are available for study at the Cochrane Archive established at Llandough Hospital.
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PMID:Medical research in the Rhondda valleys. 1053 25