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Query: UMLS:C0242379 (lung cancer)
 71,905 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Installation and removal of conventional refractories and refractory ceramic fiber (RCF) in industrial furnaces may lead to occupational exposure to respirable crystalline silica (including quartz, cristobalite, and tridymite). Exposure to elevated concentrations of these materials has been linked to adverse respiratory effects, including silicosis and lung cancer. Unlike conventional refractories, RCF does not contain any of these materials as produced. However, depending upon time and temperature during the service life of the insulation, RCF may partially devitrify, creating the potential for exposure upon removal of after-service insulation. For removal of after-service RCF, exposure data collected as part of a 5-year consent agreement with EPA are presented and analyzed. Because of relatively low concentrations of these materials, limitations on the sensitivity of the analytical method, and the relatively short duration of furnace removal activities, many measurements are less than the limits of detection (LODs), creating challenges for data analysis. Several methods of analysis of censored data are illustrated and the theory of maximum likelihood estimates is generalized to cover the case of multiple LODs. Average exposures to these materials associated with removal of after-service RCF are compared to those in various industries.
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PMID:Respirable crystalline silica exposure associated with the installation and removal of RCF and conventional silica-containing refractories in industrial furnaces. 1005 18

Residential exposure to radon has been considered an important environmental risk factor for lung cancer. Since 1986, U.S. EPA has recommended that all dwellings below the third floor be tested for the presence of radon and be mitigated to reduce indoor radon in homes with levels exceeding 148 Bq m(-3). In order to evaluate the effectiveness of New York State Department of Health's efforts to increase public awareness about radon risk and to promote radon testing and mitigation in compliance with EPA's guideline, a statewide radon mitigation survey was conducted between September 1995 and January 1996 among New York State residents whose homes had radon levels equal to or greater than 148 Bq m(-3) on the first floor (or above) living areas. The survey found that about 60% of 1,113 participants had taken actions for radon mitigation. The percentage of respondents who took actions to reduce radon levels in their homes increased with increasing education level as well as household income level. The method of installing a powered system to provide more ventilation was a more effective mitigation method than opening widows/doors or sealing cracks/openings in the basement. Mitigation performed by contractors was more effective in reducing radon levels than mitigation performed by residents. The reasons for performing radon mitigation given by the majority of respondents were those strongly related to radon health risk. High home radon level was an important motivational factor to stimulate radon mitigation. On the other hand, the cost of radon mitigation was a major barrier in decision making for performing radon mitigation and for selecting mitigation measures. Thus, public educational campaigns that focus on increasing awareness and knowledge about radon health risks and development of less expensive radon mitigation methods may help in promoting radon mitigation.
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PMID:Radon mitigation survey among New York State residents living in high radon homes. 1049 46

Bone and head sinus cancer incidence after ingestion of 226Ra and 228Ra by radium dial painters is analysed using a two-mutation clonal expansion model for radiation carcinogenesis, taking into account the retention and radiation patterns of these nuclides in the body. The best fit is obtained for compact bone retention and efficient diffusion of 222Rn to the bone cavities and radiation action on both mutation rates of the cancer model, as found in a similar analysis of bone sarcomas after 226Ra injection in beagles. The model parameters of the best fit are consistent with cellular radiobiological data and a previous analysis of lung cancer in uranium miners. Due to the low background incidence of bone and head sinus cancer, the resulting dose-effect relationships for these cancers are linear-quadratic with radium ingestion and alpha radiation dose. These results do not support a threshold dose concept, but the risks at low doses calculated by the model come out to about a factor 10 lower than using a linear extrapolation of the data to low doses, a procedure currently applied by ICRP and EPA. Furthermore, the model results indicate radiation risks at low doses to be related with background cancer incidence between relative and absolute radiation risk projections. The results, which are dependent on the model assumptions, might be more generally applicable for bone seekers and will therefore need further study to arrive at better radiation risk estimations.
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PMID:An analysis of bone and head sinus cancers in radium dial painters using a two-mutation carcinogenesis model. 1128 34

The social concern about polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) is due to the awareness that several of them are carcinogens and are present in polluted air. Several epidemiological investigations have tried to assess the influence of air pollution on the incidence in the population (1). Some authors have suggest that 1-10% of the incidence of lung cancer is caused by air pollution (2, 3). Several sources, e.g. traffic, oil heating, wood stoves, industry may contribute PAHs to the air pollution. Therefore continuous air pollution control applying selective and precise analytical procedures is needed. The submitted work presents results of examination of sixteen polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons [naphthalene, acenaphthylene, acenaphthene, fluorene, phenanthrene, anthracene, fluoranthene, pyrene, chrysene, benzo(a)anthracene, benzo(b)fluoranthene, benzo(k)fluoranthene, benzo(a)pyrene, indeno(1,2,3-cd)pyrene, dibenzo(a, h)anthracene, benzo(ghi)perylene] settled on particles of 10 microns fractions of ashes, emitted from industrial and communication sources. Samples of suspended dust were collected at twelve measuring points, from May to June 1998, in 24-hour cycles, in accordance with US EPA methodology. PAHs were extracted from suspended dust in a Soxhlet apparatus and then exposed to extraction in a liquid-solid system (solid extraction-SPE) to eliminate redundant pollution, which may interfere with compounds by determined analysis. Samples were then analyzed using by capillary gas chromatographs "Varian" model 3400 with FID and MS detectors. Results of analysis make it possible to determine the influence of industry and traffic on atmospheric pollution, to compare results of two analytical methods (GC-FID and GC-MS).
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PMID:Application of GC-FID and GC-MS for assessing PAHs in suspended dust. 1094 86

A California Environmental Protection Agency (Cal/EPA) report concluded that a reasonable and likely explanation for the increased lung cancer rates in numerous epidemiological studies is a causal association between diesel exhaust exposure and lung cancer. A version of the present analysis, based on a retrospective study of a U.S. railroad worker cohort, provided the Cal/EPA report with some of its estimates of lung cancer risk associated with diesel exhaust. The individual data for that cohort study furnish information on age, employment, and mortality for 56,000 workers over 22 years. Related studies provide information on exposure concentrations. Other analyses of the original cohort data reported finding no relation between measures of diesel exhaust and lung cancer mortality, while a Health Effects Institute report found the data unsuitable for quantitative risk assessment. None of those three works used multistage models, which this article uses in finding a likely quantitative, positive relations between lung cancer and diesel exhaust. A seven-stage model that has the last or next-to-last stage sensitive to diesel exhaust provides best estimates of increase in annual mortality rate due to each unit of concentration, for bracketing assumptions on exposure. Using relative increases of risk and multiplying by the background lung cancer mortality rates for California, the 95% upper confidence limit of the 70-year unit risks for lung cancer is estimated to be in the range 2.1 x 10(-4) (microg/m3)(-1) to 5.5 x 10(-4) (microg/m3)(-1). These risks constitute the low end of those in the Cal/EPA report and are below those reported by previous investigators whose estimates were positive using human data.
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PMID:Multi-stage model estimates of lung cancer risk from exposure to diesel exhaust, based on a U.S. railroad worker cohort. 1141 31

We estimated the number of transportation deaths that would be associated with water treatment in Albuquerque to meet the EPA's recently proposed revisions of the Maximum Contaminant Level (MCL) for arsenic. Vehicle mileage was estimated for ion exchange, activated alumina, and iron coagulation/microfiltration water treatment processes to meet an MCL of 0.020 mg/L, 0.010 mg/L, 0.005 mg/L, and 0.003 mg/L. Local crash, injury, and death rates per million vehicle miles were used to estimate the number of injuries and deaths. Depending on the water treatment options chosen, we estimate that meeting an arsenic MCL of 0.005 mg/L will result in 143 to 237 crashes, 58 to 98 injuries, and 0.6 to 2.6 deaths in Albuquerque over a 70-year period, resulting in 26 to 113 years of life lost. The anticipated health benefits for Albuquerque residents from a 0.005 mg/L arsenic MCL, estimated using either a multistage Weibull or Poisson model, ranged from 3 to 80 arsenic-related bladder and lung cancer deaths prevented over a 70-year period, adding between 43 and 1,123 years of life. Whether a revised arsenic MCL increases or reduces overall loss of life in Albuquerque depends on the accuracy of EPA's cancer risk assessment. If the multistage Weibull model accurately estimates the benefits, the years of life added is comparable or lower than the anticipated years lost due to transportation associated with the delivery of chemicals, disposal of treatment waste, and operation of the water treatment system. Coagulation/microfiltration treatment will result in substantially fewer transportation deaths than either ion exchange or activated alumina.
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PMID:Physical injury risks associated with drinking water arsenic treatment. 1202 73

Diesel exhaust is a mixture of particles and gases. It contains more than several hundred different organic and inorganic components, including many chemicals that have been designated as toxic air pollutants. Because mutagens and carcinogens are present in both the gaseous and particulate components, lung cancer has been the focus of attention as a health risk in animal and human research. Moreover, since the epidemiologic data suggest carcinogenicity in humans, and the diesel exhaust exposure data in evaluations in rats by NIOSH, IARC, WHO, and the California EPA, are said to demonstrate or support carcinogenicity, agencies have designated them as latent occupational carcinogens (NIOSH) or toxic air pollutants (California EPA). In regard to their non-carcinogenic effects, a contribution to airway inflammation and allergies, and in relation to disease, the possibility of contracting asthma and chronic bronchitis, have been investigated both experimentally and epidemiologically, and concern has increased about their health effects, particularly in children.
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PMID:Health effects of diesel exhaust emissions--a mixture of air pollutants of worldwide concern. 1250 35

Refractory ceramic fiber (RCF) is a high-temperature insulating fiber used principally in industrial applications. Epidemiological studies on occupationally exposed cohorts have not indicated that exposure leads to fibrosis, increased lung cancer, or mesothelioma. However, inhalation bioassays with rats and hamsters have shown that these animals can develop each of these endpoints when exposed to high levels of RCF-particle mixtures. This work summarizes relevant quantitative risk analyses based upon analysis of the rat bioassay studies, which lead to predicted unit risks that range nearly three orders of magnitude. Additionally, we identify key assumptions that affect the risk estimates and provide additional estimates using the benchmark dose methodology favored by the U.S. EPA in cases where mechanistic models are inadequate or not available. We show that a key determinant of risk is how lung burdens are normalized (e.g., in terms of the number of fibers per square centimeter of lung surface or the number of fibers per milligram dry lung) for species conversion. Plausible values of unit potency/risk range from 1.4x10(-4) to 7.2x10(-4), neglecting any allowance for the effects of particulate material in the RCF tested in the bioassay experiments.
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PMID:Quantitative risk analyses for RCF: survey and synthesis. 1462 89

Indoor radon concentration levels were measured in seven major cities of the Bahawalpur Division, Pakistan. These included Fort Abbas, Minchin Abad, Hasilpur, Bahawalpur, Liaqatpur, Rahimyar Khan and Sadiq Abad. In order to select houses for this survey, the inhabitants were approached through their school-registered children. Due to several constraints, only those 100 houses were chosen in each city that were relatively the best representatives of the built-up area. The selected houses were then divided into live categories according to the house locations and building characteristics. CR-39 detectors, placed in polyethylene bags. were installed at head height in bedrooms and sitting rooms of all the selected houses and were exposed to radon and its daughter products for 90 days. Four such measurements were performed over a year in order to average out the seasonal variation in radon levels. After exposure, all the detectors were etched and counted under an optical microscope. The track densities of four measurements were averaged out and related to radon concentration levels. The radon levels were found to be 20, 20, 26, 28, 34, 42, 47 Bq m(-3) in the bedrooms and 24, 26, 27, 26, 37, 40, 43 Bq m(-3) in sitting rooms of Hasilpur, Rahimyar Khan, Minchin Abad, Fort Abbas, Sadiq Abad, Bahawalpur and Liaqatpur respectively. The observed variation in the radon level may be attributed to the geological variation in the area. Based on the observed data, excess lung cancer risk was assessed using the risk factors recommended by the USEPA, UNSCEAR and the ICRP. According to the EPA model, the lifetime excess lung cancer risk due to the lifetime exposure is found to vary from 12-102 per million per year in the houses surveyed. This variation is from 16-114 and 26-62 per million per year if UNSCEAR and ICRP limits are applied respectively.
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PMID:Indoor radon levels and lung cancer risk estimates in seven cities of the Bahawalpur Division, Pakistan. 1475 84

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has updated its assessment of health risks from indoor radon, which has been determined to be the second leading cause of lung cancer after cigarette smoking. This risk assessment is based primarily on results from a recent study of radon health effects (BEIR VI) by the National Academy of Sciences. In BEIR VI, the National Academy of Sciences fit empirical risk models to data from 11 cohorts of miners, and estimated that each year about 20,000 lung cancer deaths in the U.S. are radon related. A summary, abstracted from the technical report, is given of the EPA's risk assessment results and methods, including some modifications and extensions to the approach used in BEIR VI. Results include numerical estimates of lung cancer deaths per unit exposure, which had not been provided in BEIR VI.
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PMID:The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's assessment of risks from indoor radon. 1554 76


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