Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
Pivot Concepts:   Target Concepts:
Query: UMLS:C0037116 (silicosis)
 1,822 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Risk groups with regard to bronchopulmonary precancerous and tumor diseases of occupational origin can be deduced from current occupational disease statistics. Most prominent are those working with asbestos. Each year about 250 asbestos-associated bronchial carcinomas and 400 mesotheliomas are recognized and compensated; the tendency is increasing. Because of the long latency time, the frequency peak will probably be reached in about 15 years in spite of the prohibition of asbestos usage. The second place is probably taken by malignomas among the underground uranium mine workers in Thuringia and Saxony (SDAG Wismut). Next come bronchial carcinomas with silicosis (carcinoma in scar tissue) after exposure to chromium(VI) and arsenic compounds as well as various other chemicals and metals. Dose-activity relationships are significant for all occupational carcinogenic agents, as there are also often syncancerogenic influences (especially smoking). From the data on previous loading, high risk groups, for example, among the insulation workers exposed to asbestos or uranium miners in the so-called "wild years", can be defined. A suitable screening method for the detection of bronchopulmonary tumors in the early stages has not yet been established. Medical checkups for the respective risk groups concentrate on the early X-ray detection of circular foci. As shown by recent studies, cytological sputum diagnosis, (fluorescence) bronchoscopy, and BAL cytology must be employed much more frequently in the high risk groups so that the prognostically more favorable stages of preneoplasm and carcinoma in situ can be detected and possibly treated curatively. These procedures are currently reaching a considerably higher sensitivity with the help of modern molecular biology techniques (e.g. detection of tumor-associated genetic changes and gene products). This contributes to an improvement in surveillance examinations with increasing detection of the curable early forms of tumors. However, only the further development of primary prevention, i.e. the greatest possible minimization or, if possible, total elimination of contact with carcinogenic agents and the consequent control of occupational protection will lead to a drastic reduction in the occupational risk of cancer.
 ...
PMID:[Bronchopulmonary precancerous conditions and tumors--risk groups from the occupational medicine viewpoint]. 784 56

The paper reports a case of silicosis associated with idiopathic unilateral hyperlucent lung--MacLeod's disease (ML)--in a 65-year old miner. ML had not been diagnosed before this clinical observation and the patient had been exposed to silica dust for about 15 years as a truck operator in water supply tunnelling work in central Italy. Impaired ventilatory function due to left pulmonary dystrophy was the favouring or even the causal factor of dust accumulation in the functionally active right lung and of the tissue reaction to the dust, leading to interstitial fibrosis. A radiological diagnosis of p 1/0 pneumoconiosis was made according to the 1980 International Labour Office classification. Clinical, radiological and functional findings indicated the presence of respiratory failure as a result of the sum of silicotic and dystrophic lesions. Two combined pulmonary scintigraphic examinations with Tc99 perfusional and mTc-DPTA inhalatory methods revealed peculiar alterations: absence of ventilation associated with severe vascular impairment in the left lung, inequality of the ventilation/perfusion rate, due to pneumoconiosis, in the right lung. MacLeod's disease is rare, but must be considered as a mandatory contra-indication for work involving dust exposure risk since it is one of the predisposing factors which can cause an occupational disease even if environmental exposure standards are observed.
 ...
PMID:[Pulmonary silicosis associated with MacLeod syndrome: a case report]. 811 52

Arteriopathies of occupational diseases predominate in the upper limbs and are usually expressed as Raynaud's phenomenon ("white finger"), sometimes complicated by digital gangrene. Hand-arm vibration disease, hypothenar hammer syndrome, exposure to silica even without silicosis and vinyl chloride intoxication are the principal causes of occupational diseases acknowledged as such by the laws. In a personal series of 60 patients with complicated upper limb arteriopathies, 25% had a recognized occupational disease. Since December 1992, Erasmus' syndrome and systemic scleroderma due to silica without silicosis have been accepted in France as being occupational diseases. The therapeutic problems are discussed, notably the surgical indications in hypothenar hammer syndrome, the possible medical treatments of finger necrosis occurring in Erasmus' syndrome and, in particular, the role played by spinal cord neurostimulation.
 ...
PMID:[Arteriopathies as occupational diseases]. 823 49

Michigan has a statewide mandatory occupational disease reporting system. As part of that system, reports are received from hospital, physicians, death certificates, the worker's compensation bureau, and company medical departments. Based on this reporting, the State of Michigan has a special emphasis program for the surveillance of silicosis, a known disease outcome among foundry workers. From 1985-1996, 115 cases reported to the State Surveillance System as silicosis, pneumoconiosis not specified, or pulmonary fibrosis were reclassified as having asbestos related x-ray changes after a B-reader interpretation of each case's chest x-ray. During this same period there were an additional 697 reports confirmed as silicosis and 6,724 cases reported to the surveillance system as asbestosis. Among the 115 reports reclassified as having asbestos-related x-ray changes without evidence of silicosis-related x-ray changes, 54 had worked in foundries. Only 7 (14.8%) of these individuals had their primary work in maintenance in the foundry; 40 (85.1%) had their primary foundry work in a production job; and for 10 individuals the occupation was not known. Asbestos has been used in foundries on pipe laggings, boiler coverings, as insulation in fan housings, in gloves, aprons and curtains, as insulation in cupolas, and in ladles and insulation in sand molds. Clinicians caring for foundry workers need to be aware that asbestos-related x-ray changes are not uncommon in this population and asbestos exposure should be considered as one of the carcinogens contributing to the known increased risk of lung cancer among foundry workers.
 ...
PMID:Asbestos-related x-ray changes in foundry workers. 1227 84

Silicosis is a common occupational disease. We present a 64-year-old male patient suffering from symptomatic silicosis due to compression of the pulmonary arteries by enlarged hilar lymph nodes. Clinical symptoms and diagnostic imaging modalities are described, with emphasis on cross-sectional imaging. MR angiography and perfusion MRI of the lung in silicosis are described, and their diagnostic value in pneumoconiosis is discussed.
 ...
PMID:Silicosis-induced pulmonary artery stenosis: demonstration by MR angiography and perfusion MRI. 1156 Aug 37

Exposure to silica minerals is associated with silicosis and autoimmune disorders, especially systemic scleroderma. Evidence of this association has been increasingly reported in the last decade. The aim of this paper is to discuss, on the basis of a literature review, the case of a 28-year-old female dental technician who suffered from episodes of weakness, arthralgia, pain, swelling and stiffness of the fingers, dyspnoea with cough, a positive Waaler-Rose reaction, increased rheumatoid factor and normal ESR. She was a non-smoker. A rheumatoid syndrome with lung interstitial disorder, associated with silica exposure from dental ceramic products, was diagnosed. The patient had the HLA-A2-A31, HLA-B51-B18 and HLA-DR3-DR11 haplotypes, some of which are associated with autoimmune disease susceptibility. A 6-month follow-up, with adequate protection and without treatment, showed disappearance of the symptomatology and negative tests for Waaler-Rose reaction and rheumatoid factor. Exposure to silica should, therefore, be sought in the history of any patient with autoimmune or lupus-like syndrome and pulmonary changes. Symptoms associated with silica dust exposure from dental ceramic products should be recognised as being due potentially to an occupational disease, and dental technicians should be protected as workers at risk.
 ...
PMID:Rheumatoid syndrome associated with lung interstitial disorder in a dental technician exposed to ceramic silica dust. A case report and critical literature review. 1195 93

Silicosis is a typical occupational disease, although some cases caused by non-industrial exposure have also been reported. We saw a 53-year-old male gardener with recurrent non-productive cough. A routine radiograph of the chest showed bilateral pulmonary nodules and subsequent computed tomography suggested that the infiltrates could be metastases. Open lung biopsy revealed nodules consisting of fibrotic tissue while the presence of birefringent silica particles was observed by polarised light microscopy. Mineralogical analysis of the substrata from the patient's workplace revealed an SiO(2) concentration of 31%. This case indicates that the inhalation of siliceous particles in a closed environment such as a greenhouse is a risk factor for silicosis.
 ...
PMID:Gardening in greenhouses as a risk factor for silicosis. 1274 May 24

Silicosis is a chronic, progressing disease of the respiratory system. The aim of this paper was to describe a case of silicosis coexisting with not typical plasmocytoma. Silicosis was diagnosed in a 62-year old woman, after an 8-year employment as a grinder. The patient has suffered from progressing weakness, fatigue, and dyspnea for 2 years. The increased leucocytosis (18-20,000) and moderate lymphocytosis were found in laboratory tests. The patient was admitted to the hospital in a very serious condition, with fever and progressing insufficiency of the respiratory and circulatory systems. Following computed tomography (CT), tumorous silicosis was diagnosed in the Department of Internal and Occupational Diseases. After three months, the increased level of the whole number of serum proteins (until 90 g/l) was found for the first time together with few places of osteolysis in the x-ray cranium picture. The plasmocytoma infiltrations were found in the post-mortem lung examination. The described case seems to be interesting in view of a possible induction of monoclonal gammopathy by silicosis.
 ...
PMID:[A case of lung silicosis associated with plasmocytoma: the diagnosis and certification difficulties]. 1466 79

Silicosis is a debilitating, sometimes fatal, yet preventable occupational lung disease caused by inhaling respirable crystalline silica dust. Although crystalline silica exposure and silicosis have been associated historically with work in mining, quarrying, sandblasting, masonry, founding, and ceramics, certain materials and processes used in dental laboratories also place technicians at risk for silicosis. During 1994--2000, occupational disease surveillance programs in five states identified nine confirmed cases of silicosis among persons who worked in dental laboratories; four persons resided in Michigan, two in New Jersey, and one each in Massachusetts, New York, and Ohio. This report describes three of the cases and underscores the need for employers of dental laboratory technicians to ensure appropriate control of worker exposure to crystalline silica.
 ...
PMID:Silicosis in dental laboratory technicians--five states, 1994-2000. 1501 75

It is estimated that about 4% of cancer mortality is attributed to occupational risk factors. Due to long latency periods it is often difficult to establish causal relationships. Thoracal cancer accounts for about 88% of all compensated occupational cancers in Germany. Most important exposures and diseases are asbestos-related lung cancer, asbestos-related malignant mesothelioma and radiation induced lung cancer (by Radon and its decay products). Lung cancer caused by nickel compounds, hexavalent chromium, arsenic and its compounds, coke oven gases and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons are rare. Silica-dust induced lung cancer can be compensated as occupational disease if a silicosis is present. In Germany every physician is obliged to notify a suspected occupational cancer as well as other occupational diseases.
 ...
PMID:[Occupation related thoracic tumors]. 1510 80


<< Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Next >>