Gene/Protein
Disease
Symptom
Drug
Enzyme
Compound
Pivot Concepts:
Gene/Protein
Disease
Symptom
Drug
Enzyme
Compound
Target Concepts:
Gene/Protein
Disease
Symptom
Drug
Enzyme
Compound
Query: UMLS:C0037116 (
silicosis
)
1,822
document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)
The serum activities of two lysosomal enzymes, beta-N-acetylglucosaminidase (EC 3.2.1.30;
NAG
) and beta-glucuronidase (EC 3.2.1.31; GLU) were analysed in 116 male patients with
silicosis
. Twenty-eight of the patients were matched with controls of similar sex, age and exposure to silica dust but with no radiographical evidence of
silicosis
. A control group which had not been exposed to silica dust consisted of male blood donors. The mean activity of
NAG
in serum was higher in the
silicosis
patients than in the blood donors (P less than 0.01). Similarly, the
NAG
level in the
silicosis
patients with matched controls was higher than that in the silica-exposed controls (P less than 0.05). The
silicosis
patients who showed a progression of small opacities by one or more subcategories had a slightly higher mean
NAG
activity in their sera than the patients with no progression but this difference did not reach statistical significance; the activity was higher than in silica-exposed controls (P less than 0.05). We suggest that these findings may be related to the effects of silica on macrophages which have been observed experimentally in vitro and in vivo and might indicate an increased turnover of macrophages caused by silica dust and active, progressive silicotic fibrosis.
...
PMID:Serum beta-N-acetylglucosaminidase and beta-glucuronidase activities in silicosis patients and in workers exposed to silica dust. 633 85
