This report describes a previously uncharacterized occupational health hazard: work crew exposures to respirable crystalline silica during hydraulic fracturing. Hydraulic fracturing involves high pressure injection of large volumes of water and sand, and smaller quantities of well treatment chemicals, into a gas or oil well to fracture shale or other rock formations, allowing more efficient rec...

Occupational exposure to crystalline silica is a well-established occupational hazard. Once in the lung, crystalline silica particles can result in the activation of alveolar macrophages potentially leading to silicosis, a fibrotic lung disease. Because the activation of alveolar macrophages is the beginning step in a complicated inflammatory cascade, it is necessary to define the particle char...

BACKGROUND The term "crystalline silica" refers to crystallized form of SiO2 and quartz, as the most abundant compound on the earth's crust; it is capable of causing silicosis and lung cancer upon inhaling large doses in the course of occupational exposure. The aim of this study was to assess occupational exposure to dust and crystalline silica in foundries in Pakdasht, Iran. MATERIALS AND ME...

BACKGROUND Although crystalline silica exposure is associated with silicosis, lung cancer, pulmonary tuberculosis, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), there is less support for an association with autoimmune disease, and renal disease. METHODS Using data from the US National Occupational Mortality Surveillance (NOMS) system, a matched case-control design was employed to examine ...

industry is the need to identify and characterise all of the various physical forms of potential drug candidates. Most chemical compounds exist both in amorphic and multiple crystalline forms. The different crystal forms are also known as polymorphs. Polymorphism describes the solid state phenomenon where crystalline materials of the same chemical composition adopt more than one stable or meta-...

Air concentrations of respirable crystalline silica were measured in eleven (11) high school ceramics classrooms located in Salt Lake County, UT, USA. Respirable dust was collected on PVC filters using precision flow pumps and cyclone samplers (n = 44). Filters were subsequently analyzed for respirable dust and percent crystalline silica content. The geometric mean of the silica concentrations ...

BACKGROUND The association between crystalline silica exposure and risk of heart disease mortality remains less clear. METHODS We investigated a cohort of 42,572 Chinese workers who were potentially exposed to crystalline silica and followed from 1960 to 2003. Cumulative silica exposure was estimated by linking a job-exposure matrix to each person's work history. Low-level silica exposure was...

Mining, crushing, grinding, sandblasting and construction are high-risk activities with regard to crystalline silica exposure, especially in developing countries. Respirable crystalline silica (quartz and cristobalite) inhaled from occupational sources has been reclassified as a human carcinogen in 1997 by the International Agency for Research on Cancer. However, the biological activity of crys...