BACKGROUND Occupational noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL) occurs in many industries despite interventions such as hearing conservation programmes. AIMS To determine the actual and reported use of hearing protection devices (HPDs) in noise-exposed gold mine workers and their reported knowledge, attitudes and practices relating to NIHL and HPDs. METHODS A cross-sectional descriptive study was...

Arthritis, an inflammation of the joints, is usually a chronic disease that results from dysregulation of pro-inflammatory cytokines (e.g. tumour necrosis factor and interleukin-1beta) and pro-inflammatory enzymes that mediate the production of prostaglandins (e.g. cyclooxygenase-2) and leukotrienes (e.g. lipooxygenase), together with the expression of adhesion molecules and matrix metalloprote...

A cohort of 54,128 men who worked in Ontario mines was observed for mortality between 1955 and 1986. Most of these men worked in nickel, gold, or uranium mines; a few worked in silver, iron, lead/zinc, or other ore mines. If mortality that occurred after a man had started to mine uranium was excluded, an excess of carcinoma of the lung was found among the 13,603 Ontario gold miners in the study...

BACKGROUND South Africa is the largest producer of platinum group metals in the world. Platinum is found in the Bushveld Complex in the north-east of the country. This volcanic intrusion contains many other minerals, including crystalline silica. Little is known about the health risks in the platinum mining industry. AIMS To explore the potential for platinum mine workers to develop silicosis...

The socio-ecological impacts of large scale resource extraction are frequently underreported in underdeveloped regions. The open-pit Grasberg mine in Papua, Indonesia, is one of the world's largest copper and gold extraction operations. Grasberg mine tailings are discharged into the lowland Ajkwa River deposition area (ADA) leading to forest inundation and degradation of water bodies critical t...

Niacin was the first drug demonstrating lowered cholesterol prevents coronary heart disease (CHD) events, with two clinical CHD outcome studies establishing a cardioprotective niacin regimen: 1 g thrice daily with meals. Though cardioprotective, skin toxicity limits niacin's use, fostering several variations to improve tolerability. One of these, an extended-release (ER) alternative, proved imm...

Two cardiovascular outcome trials established niacin 3 g daily prevents hard cardiac events. However, as detailed in part I of this series, an extended-release (ER) alternative at only 2 g nightly demonstrated no comparable benefits in two outcome trials, implying the alternative is not equivalent to the established cardioprotective regimen. Since statins leave a significant treatment gap, this...

An indigenous fungal strain was isolated from Indian Kolar Gold Field mine soil. The isolate was heterothallic, branched septate, deeply floccose, fast-growing, dull green with white background conidial columnar mycelium from Aspergillus section Fumigati. Diverse metabolic patterns of the isolate exhibit high metal, thermal resistance which grews well from 28 ± 1 degrees C to 37 degrees C and p...

the focus of this research work is on the determination of the impact of mining on the groundwater quality in the historical mining region of sw ashanti region in ghana. this work describes the characteristics of the groundwater chemistry and pollution of the aquifer in the gold-ore bearing formation, which is highly weathered and fractured. the fractures control the permeability and depth of t...