A 62 yr old woman was initially diagnosed with sarcoidosis until a thoracoscopic biopsy revealed the presence of numerous birefringent particles in fibrotic areas of the centrilobular lung zones. These particles were examined by electron microscopy and X-ray spectrometry and characterized as impure talc. Further inquiry into her occupational history revealed that she had worked from the age of ...

We present for the first time a 40-year-old male patient with a 20 year history of occupational exposure to radiation as a nuclear power plant worker, who developed FIP1L1-PDGFRA-positive chronic eosinophilic leukemia 27 months after radiotherapy for testicular seminoma. After an one-year history of dry cough, itching and night sweats, the patient presented with an elevated leukocyte count with...

A 64-yr-old male with a longstanding history of psoriatic arthritis presented with a 6-week history of dry cough without other respiratory symptoms. His other past medical history showed hypertension and type II diabetes mellitus. He took methotrexate 12.5 mg weekly (commenced 9 yrs previously), folic acid, aspirin, nortriptyline, metformin, valsartan and insulin. The patient was an ex-smoker o...

Well-rounded instruction in occupational medicine as part of family medicine residency training is feasible through a program that balances a longitudinal curriculum of monthly occupational and environmental medicine (OEM) lectures, community-based OEM patient care, and worksite assessment. Such training would help equip family medicine residents to integrate occupational medicine into their pr...

Dental personnel are constantly exposed to a number of specific occupational hazards. These cause the appearance of various disorders, specific to the profession, which develop and intensify with years. Being unaware of the potential hazards in the work environment makes them more vulnerable to injury. Based on relevant literature, the present paper discusses various occupational hazards like b...

BACKGROUND Exposure to hepatitis B virus (HBV) remains a serious risk to healthcare workers (HCWs) in endemic developing countries owing to the strong prevalence of HBV in the general and hospital populations, and to the high rate of occupational blood exposure. Routine HBV vaccination programs targeted to high-risk groups and especially to HCWs are generally considered as a key element of prev...

background: health care workers (hcws) are at the risk of the acquisition of occupational transmissible diseases. controversial results have been reported about hepatitis c virus (hcv). the main objective of the recent study was to evaluate the seroprevalence of hcv and its relationship to the occupational history and exposure of hcws in two teaching hospitals in tehran-iran. materials and meth...

Occupational medicine and specialist health and safety practice in the 21st century are changing rapidly. ‘Modern’ occupational diseases—psychological stress, non-specific musculoskeletal disorders, the subtle psycho-social interactions between motivation and perception of disability— absorb most of our time and professional energy. It is easy to forget that the workplace hazards that were fami...

BACKGROUND Carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) is a musculoskeletal condition that often impairs the fitness to work. Our aim is to retrospectively evaluate the association between physical exposures in meat processing industry in Northern Italy and the CTS, taking into account non-occupational factors. MATERIAL AND METHODS A cross-sectional study was performed to include 434 workers (236 males, 198...

109 The delivery of occupational therapy in ever changing systems has resulted in an increased focus on ethical concerns (Brown & Gabriel, 1995; Curtin, 2000; Fisher, 1997; Jacobson & Pomfret, 2000; Lohman & Brown, 1997). In recognition of ethical issues, the American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA) has developed three documents that guide ethical practice: the Occupational Therapy Code...