OBJECTIVES To evaluate respiratory related mortality among underground coal miners after 37 years of follow-up. METHODS Underlying cause of death for 9033 underground coal miners from 31 US mines enrolled between 1969 and 1971 was evaluated with life table analysis. Cox proportional hazards models were fitted to evaluate the exposure-response relationships between cumulative exposure to coal ...

Under the current system of safety regulation in China, a lower level in the hierarchical system means more regulatory failure. The mechanism of rewards and punishments has been proven to compensate for regulatory failures according to game theory separately. This study analyzed rewards and punishments simultaneously to strengthen the regulatory power and offset the failure of regulation; examp...

OBJECTIVES This study, the first to document the prevalence of pneumoconiosis among a living South African coal mining cohort, describes dose-response relationships between coal workers' pneumoconiosis and respirable dust exposure, and relationships between pneumoconiosis and both lung function deterioration and respiratory symptoms. METHODS A total of 684 current miners and 188 ex-miners fro...

Toxic potency of quartz-containing dusts, including coal mine dusts, is usually inhibited by protective clay mineral layers on the surface of quartz particles. This investigation of 11 dusts recovered from lungs of coal miners with different silicosis grade shows that such layers persist during long-term contact with human lung tissues. On the other hand, the results suggest that an apparently ...

Coal-workers in the southern part of Wales are particularly prone to pulmonary disease due to the inhalation of coal dust. In some men discrete foci of dust are scattered more or less uniformly throughout both lungs. This is called simple pneumoconiosis. In others there occur also one or more large localized masses of dust and dense fibrous tissue (Fig. 1). This manifestation is referred to as ...

Vich, Z., Novosad, F., and Brychtova', V. (1970). Brit. J. industr. Med., 27, 287-290. Erythrocytes of uranium miners: the activity of the pentose phosphate pathway. The functioning of erythrocytes was studied by determination of the activity of the pentose phosphate pathway in 431 individuals 221 uranium miners, 42 employees of a uranium ore trimming station (30 of whom were exposed), 36 forme...

This study examines the patterns and trends in noise exposure documented in data collected by Mine Safety and Health Administration inspectors at U.S. coal mines from 1987 through 2004. During this period, MSHA issued a new regulation on occupational noise exposure that changed the regulatory requirements and enforcement policies. The data were examined to identify potential impacts from these ...

OBJECTIVES Dyspnoea is a common symptom in coal miners with pneumoconiosis. Among others, gas exchange disturbances due to airway obstruction or mismatch between ventilation and perfusion may be underlying mechanisms. The validation of dyspnoea by the degree of airway obstruction is controversial, because the extent of airway obstruction often does not correlate with the clinical grade of breat...