Intracellular iron can be estimated semi-quantitatively by histochemical determination using the ferrocyanide reagent's score. Particle-induced X-ray emission (PIXE) allows accurate determination of various elements including iron in cells and biological fluids. Both techniques have been used to measure iron in alveolar macrophages gathered by bronchoalveolar lavage. The purpose of this study w...

OBJECTIVES To investigate the relation between lung cancer and exposure to occupational carcinogens in a highly industrialised region in western Europe. METHODS In a case-control study 478 cases and 536 controls, recruited from 10 hospitals in the Antwerp region, were interviewed. Cases were male patients with histologically confirmed lung cancer; controls were male patients without cancer or...

The list of occupational diseases established in the international and national legal system has played important roles in both prevention of and compensation for workers' diseases. This report reviewed the historical development in the ILO list of occupational diseases and suggested implications of the trends. Since the first establishment of the ILO list of occupational diseases in 1925, the ...

sthma and other idiosyncratic respiratory diseases have become an increasingly important component of the occupational lung disease burden in the United States and other developed countries as more cases are recognized and the pneumoconioses come under control (see Mao, “Cornpensation for Occupational Asthma in Quebec, “ this issue). Unfortunately, control of occupational asthma cannot be achie...

BACKGROUND Occupational lung diseases remain common, and health surveillance is one approach used to assist identification of early cases. AIMS To identify areas of good practice within respiratory health surveillance and to formulate recommendations for practice. METHODS Published literature was searched since 1990 using a semi-systematic methodology. RESULTS A total of 561 documents wer...

BACKGROUND The occurrence of occupational lung diseases is decreasing due to improvements in occupational health in recent years; however, silicosis and its complications remain important occupational health problems. We have studied the role of emphysema and bullae as predictive factors of secondary spontaneous pneumothorax in acute and accelerated silicosis. MATERIALS AND METHODS This study...

Rodney Ehrlich trained in economics at UCT and Oxford before switching to Medicine which he completed at UCT in 1981. He subsequently worked for the National Centre for Occupational Health in Johannesburg where his interest in lung disease in miners was kindled. After training in occupational medicine and epidemiology at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York, he qualified as a speciali...

Environmental exposure to tremolite and erionite causes endemic diseases of the lung and pleura in Turkey. This study aimed to evaluate the impact of these exposures and further occupational exposures on fibre-related diseases in Turkish immigrants living in Belgium. The study included 51 males and 17 females that emigrated < 1-38 yrs ago. Most of them (n=46) had nonmalignant pleural lesions, o...

OBJECTIVES The aim of this review is to provide an updated overview of definition, epidemiology, diagnostic algorithm and occupational exposures related to abnormal restrictive spirometrical pattern (RSP) in order to improve the correct interpretation of spirometry test results by occupational healthcare providers. METHODS A review of the scientific English literature of the last 25 years was...