Workers who are particularly susceptible to the effects of their occupational exposure, from the perspective of the healthy worker effect, soon leave the workplace. The result of this mobility, called survival bias, is that cross sectional studies based on the survivors underestimate the true risk of occupational exposures. Two questions are addressed in this empirical study of the "survival bi...

OBJECTIVES Occupational exposure assessment is a major task in industrial hygiene studies. Although statistical analyses for magnitudes and variations of exposures to various types of working populations based on existing data sets are extensive, relatively few discussions on study designs appear in the literature, especially for sample size determination and number of repeated measurements. ...

BACKGROUND Obesity and obesity related conditions, driven by processes such as urbanization and globalization, are contributing to pronounced cardiovascular morbidity and mortality in developing countries. There is limited evidence on the influence of living in an urban environment in early life on obesity and obesity related conditions later in life in developing countries such as Thailand. ...

Since the 1970s, concerns have been raised about elevated rates of mesothelioma in the vicinity of the taconite mines in the Mesabi Iron Range. However, insufficient quantitative exposure data have hampered investigations of the relationship between cumulative exposures to elongate mineral particles (EMP) in taconite dust and adverse health effects. Specifically, no research on exposure to taco...

Introduction: Copper and zinc play a key role in oxidative reactions and in vivo studies have shown their different effects. In this study we examined the influence of exposure to copper and zinc on catalase and superoxide dismutase (SOD) activities in erythrocytes, total serum antioxidant capacity and malondiadehyde (MDA) production of copper industry workers. Methods: In the present study...

RESEARCH SUMMARY: This research will be integral to development of sampling and analytical methods used to assess exposures to asphalt fumes and specific irritants and genotoxins. Laboratory research will be useful in designing better worker exposure protocols, identifying specific biomarkers to assess a worker's true exposure, and designing animal studies to evaluate physiological and toxicolo...

We address the impacts of regulations designed to reduce pesticide poisoning of farmers and farm laborers. Attention is concentrated on pre-harvest interval regulations that impose a time interval between pesticide application and harvest. The incidence of poisoning is determined by aggregate pesticide use, worker exposure, and toxicity. A dynamic, stochastic model of insect population growth i...

Work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WMSDs) are debilitating for workers and costly for employers. Existing exposure assessment tools were modified for rapid job physical exposure and company organizational exposure assessment. These were augmented with injured worker interviews to "put the meet on the bones" in characterizing risk. These risk assessments are conducted in all industry sectors.