background: agate is a hard silica stone with bands of various colors, which is used in jewelry. the agate grinding workers are exposed to silica dust. objective: to determine the prevalence of respiratory diseases in agate grinding workers and the associated factors. methods: in this cross-sectional study, 170 agate grinding workers from mashhad, northeastern iran, were examined. medical and o...

background: respiratory diseases cause a considerable amount of morbidity and mortality in the world. pulmonary function tests are important measures for the diagnosis and management of respiratory disorders. workers in tile and ceramic industry are exposed to high amounts of respiratory pollutants. objective: to identify the changes in spirometric parameters in a 2-year period among tile and c...

BACKGROUND The relationship between pet exposure and the respiratory disease in childhood has been a controversial topic, much is still unknown about the nature of the associations between pet exposure and children's respiratory health stratified by gender and allergic predisposition. The objective of the present study was to assess the relationship between pet exposure and respiratory symptoms...

Assessments of inhalation exposure to environmental agents necessitate quantitative estimates of pulmonary ventilation rates. Estimating a range of exposures in a given population requires an understanding of the variability of ventilation rates in the population. Distributions of ventilation rates (Ve) were described based on the results of a large study where Ve were measured while subjects p...

There is growing interest in disentangling the health effects of spatially clustered social and physical environmental exposures and in exploring potential synergies among them, with particular attention directed to the combined effects of psychosocial stress and air pollution. Both exposures may be elevated in lower-income urban communities, and it has been hypothesized that stress, which can ...

background: despite wide application of chromium in electroplating industry, the pulmonary effects of chronic exposure to this chemical have not been extensively studied and are subject of debate and controversy. this study was, therefore, undertaken to further address this issue.   methods: the study population consisted of a group of 15 workers with a history of past and present occupational ...