We experienced three cases of high signal intensity observed by Brain Magnetic Resonance Imaging in CO2 arc welders of steel-frame manufacturing industry. Case 1 was a 35 years old man who has been an CO2 arc welder for 10 years, admitted a sudden onset of tonic clonic seizure. He complained fever, chilling and myalgia since 3 days before admission. On admission, in the test of manganese exposure indices, manganese concentrations of blood, urine and scalp hair were 5.17 microgram/dL, 22.00 microgram/l and 31.25 ppm respectively. Case 2 was a 35 years old man who has been an CO2 arc welder for 20 years. On admission, He complained fatigue, numbness and weakness of extremities, and decrease of libido. In the test of manganese exposure indices, manganese concentrations of blood, urine and scalp hair were 6.34 microgram/dL, 14.62 microgram/l and 57.87 ppm respectively. In neurologic examination, Palmo-mentis reflex and Myerson sign were observed. Case 3 was a 33 years old man who has been an CO2 arc welder for 16 years. On admission, He complainer loss of appetite, numbness of extremities, fatigue and decrease of attention. In the test of manganese exposure indices, manganese concentrations of blood, urine and scalp hair were 5.14 microgram/dL, 13.79 microgram/l and 50.08 ppm respectively. In neurologic examination, Myerson sign was observed. In brain magnetic resonance imaging, T1WI showed symmetrical high signal intensity in basal ganglia and midbrain of three cases. Authors argued that they were developed by manganese exposure, and we considered that follow up study would be necessary.
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A Study on the Total, Particle Size-Selective Mass Concentration of Airborne Manganese, and Blood Manganese Concentration of Welders in a Shipbuilding Yard Jong Su Park, Pan Gyi Kim, Jee Yeon Jeong Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene.2015; 25(4): 472. CrossRef
Occupational Diseases in Korea Seong-Kyu Kang, Eun A Kim Journal of Korean Medical Science.2010; 25(Suppl): S4. CrossRef
Occupational Neurological Disorders in Korea Eun-A Kim, Seong-Kyu Kang Journal of Korean Medical Science.2010; 25(Suppl): S26. CrossRef
Sister-chromatic exchanges measured in the peripheral lymphocytes of 15 non-smoking medical students after exposure to formaldehyde during a 24-week anatomy class showed a small but significant (p=0.0468) increase when compared with samples obtained from the same individuals immediately before exposure. Mean frequencies of sister-chromatic exchange of cultured peripheral lymphocytes were 5.40+/-0.24 from the samples before exposure and 5.87+/-0.22 from the same samples after exposure. Breathing-zone air samples collected by formaldehyde monitoring kit with digital colorimeter (SKC) showed a mean concentration of 0.72+/-0.02 ppm formaldehyde.
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The effect of formaldehyde on neurobehavioral performance of student during cadaver dissection Yong Sakong, Hee-Yoon Jo, In-Gook Lee, Kyeong-Soo Lee, Man-Joong Jun Yeungnam University Journal of Medicine.2016; 33(2): 85. CrossRef
The workplace exposure of chemicals has steadily increased, therefore the concern for subsequent effect on reproductive outcome has been an important issue in occupational medicine. In previous studies, higher rates of spontaneous abortion, reduced fertility and menstrual disorder among women, and an impairment of sperm quantity and quality among men have been associated with a wide variety of chemical agents. This study was conducted to evaluate the effects of toluene, xylene and trichloroethylene (TCE) injection on the mRNA levels of GnRH, GnRH receptor and Pit-1 genes in male rats hypothalamus and pituitary and the effects on the plasma levels of FSH, LH, prolactin and testosterone. Sprague-Dawley male rats were divided into five groups of five each according to concentration of toluene, xylene and TCE. The rats were injected subcutaneously to 0, 50, 100, 200, 400 mg/kg body weight/day of toluene, xylene and TCE, respectively for 6 days. Rat brains were excised and hypothalamus and pituitary were separated. Reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and RNase protection assay (RPA) were used to evaluate the GnRH, GnRH receptor and Pit-1 mRNA levels. Plasma concentrations of FSH, LH, prolactin and testosterone were assayed by radioimulunoassay (RIA). The results were as follows; 1. GnRH, GnRH receptor and Pit-1 mRNA levels in toluene and xylene injected groups, and GnRH receptor mRNA levels in TCE injected group were lowered dose-dependently. Especially, GnRH receptor and Pit-1 mRNA levels in 200 mg/kg of toluene injected group, and GnRH, GnRH receptor and Pit-1 mRNA levels in 400 mg/kg of toluene injected group were significantly lowed than control group (p<0.05). GnRH receptor and Pit-1 mRNA levels in 400 mg/kg of xylene injected group, and GnRH receptor mRNA levels in 400 mg/kg of TCE injected group were significantly lower than control group (p<0.05). 2. The plasma levels of prolactin and testosterone in 400 mg/kg of toluene injected group, and LH in 100, 200 and 400 mg/kg of xylene injected group, and testosterone in 400 mg/kg of TCE injected group were significantly lower than control group (p<0.05). In conclusion, we speculated that toluene and xylene affected reproductive system secondarily through hypothalamus-pituitary axis, and TCE affected directly through steroidogenesis. And we recomended that further study for assessment of the reproductive toxiclty of mixed organic solvent exposures should be conducted.
Today, CTDs (Cumulative Trauma Disorders) are one of major hazards in the US and European Industries disrupting work schedules, productivity and increasing workers compensation costs. The increase in injuries and their associated costs has led companies to form committees and implement programs to address this problem. Therefore, it is important that quantitative analysis tools help identify and assess industrial tasks that pose risk to workers. However, the process of quantifying risk in upper limb tasks is still in its infancy stage and calls for better measurement techniques are not going unheard. As the first work of quantification, baseline CTD checklist for risk assessment was developed in this study. It was mainly based on previous literature regarding CTDs. The checklist was unique in that its expected user was industrial hygienist who did not have much ergonomic background and in that it was targeted to Korean workers in various types of industries. As the first application of the checklist, some jobs in two industries (VDT, heavy Industry) were evaluated, and compared with the medical data. Eighteen out of thirty items in the checklist was univariately significant (p<0.05) on the results of medical examinations. The correlation between medical data and total risk score from the checklist was 0.62. The feasibility of its use by an industrial hygienist was also checked by comparing with the results by an ergonomist. Their correlation (on the basis of Kendall's tau-b) in terms of total risk score was 0.74. The checklist in this study shows reasonably good performance for the first trial. Further research will have to include continuous refinement and validation for many more industries and many more jobs.
We investigated the association between the oxidative stress and the concentration of heavy metals in blood among welders. The study subjects were male manual CO2 welders(N=127) exposed to several heavy metals. The age distribution was from 20 to 63 (GM=33.7) and the geometric mean(GM) of work duration was 4.2 years. We analyze the level of blood lead, cadmium, managese and chromium which was related with the oxidative stress in the animal studies. Blood selenuim, plasma malondialdehyde (MDA), plasma alpha-tocopheol and orythrocyte superoxide dismutase (SOD) were analyzed as biological markers of the oxidative stress. The results of univariate analysis showed that the plasma MDA was significantly correlated with D-tocopherol (r=0.327) and blood selenium (r=0.313) concentration. But we could not find out any relationship between the erythrocyte SOD activities and those metal concentrations. Neither smoking nor alcohol consumption was related to the level of heavy metals and the oxidative stress biomarkers. As the results of multiple regression analysis with stepwise selection method, 1) the change of MDA level were dependant with the level of alpha-tocopherol and blood selenium concentration (R2=19.7), 2) the plasma alpha-tocopherol level was dependant with MDA and blood chromium concentration (R2=15.6), 3) in case of erythrocyte SOD activity, only the duration of work was significantly selected.
The study was conducted to predict the risk of chronic exposure by neurobehavioral test and to use it as a basic source of the management for workers exposed to organic solvents. The exposed group was selected from coating department of textile processing industry. The unexposed group was selected from those who visited the clinic to take an annual check-up. The author administered WHO-NCTB (neurobehavioral core test battery). Also, Scandinavian Questionnaire 16 was tested by self-administration to find the correlation between subjective symptoms and NCTB results, and to assess the availability of the Questionnaire in mass screening test concurrently. The final analysed subjects were 78 (27 in exposed group and 51 in unexposed group) workers except who had a neurologic disease or systemic disease affecting the central nervous system. In Questionnaire study, there was no significant difference in total neurotoxic symptom scores between the exposed and the unexposed group. In NCTB, the exposed group had lower mean scores than the unexposed group for all tests. When the effect by age and education were considered, there was a statistically significant difference only in pursuit timing test. This study suggests the availability of NCTB and the Questionnaire for the assessment of neurobehavioral change in workers exposed to organic solvents.
For the purpose of obtaining reference materials for the prevention and management of mental health promoting in industrial workers, this survey was investigated the relationship between subjective fatigue symptoms and its related factors such as demographic, job and health related variables. 442 cases of industrial workers which occurred in 7 factories of machine an4 metal manufacturing industrial in Taejon industrial area surveyed by self-recorded questionnaire. The results were as follows : 1. In the complaint raters of fatigue, "eye strain" was the highest (21.9%) and followed by "feel like tying" (12.4%) and "feel a pain in the low back" (12.4%), "feel drowsy" (12.2%), "yawning a lot"(11.8%) and "whole body feels tired" (11.1%) in the descending order. 2. In the average weighted scores of fatigue complaints, dullness and steepness group (I) was the highest, followed by difficulty in concentration group(II) and bodily projection of fatigue group(III) in the descending order. 3. The average weighted scores of fatigue complaints by general characteristics were significantly higher in the lower age group, lower education group and unmarried divorce group. But there was no significant difference in sex. 4. By the working condition, the fatigue scores were significantly higher in manual worker and shift worker than in clerical worker and day worker. 5. By the life style, the fatigue scores were significantly lower in 7-8 sleeping hour group and every day eating breakfast group than in other groups. But fatigue score of everyday alcohol drinking group and the lower health practice indecies group were significantly higher than that of other groups. 6. By the health status and psychological factors, the fatigue scores were higher in unhealthy group, unsatisfaction income level group, unsatisfaction worker contents group and the group of badly self-control in work. 7. In the stepwised multiple regression, factors affecting the fatigue symptoms scores were depression symptom score, health status, marital status, job satisfaction, job repeatedness and body mass index.
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Relations between Fatigue and Work-related Factors in Workers Eun Sook Jung, Nam Hyun Cha Journal of Korean Academy of Community Health Nursing.2011; 22(4): 420. CrossRef
Before and after conducting the health promotion program by group occupational health service during 5 years, we surveyed knowledge, attitude and practice about general health(30 items) and occupational health (30 items) among 25 small and medium scale industry workers (before : 355 workers, after : 279 workers) for evaluation of effectiveness. The scores of knowledge for smoking, drinking, cholesterol, mental stress, management of hypertension, and risks in younger or women workers were significantly increased after conducting group occupational health service. The scorers of attitude for controlling of fatty food consumption and cleaning workplace and bathing for health and that of practice for taking the periodic health examination and choking blood pressure were significantly increased but most of items in attitude and practice didn't be changed after services. According to sex, the scorers of men were significantly increased in knowledge of general health, but there were not significant differences in age, job status and work duration group. In conclusion, through the group occupational health service during 5 years, only the scores of knowledge in general health were increased. It suggested that the effective program which can change workers' attitude and practice for health promotion, should be developed and conducted in small and medium scale industry workers.
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The change of knowledge, attitude and practice on musculoskeletal diseases after exercise program in an electronic parts manufacturing company Jung-Wan Koo, Ki-Yang Kim International Congress Series.2006; 1294: 143. CrossRef
To investigate the effects of cardiovascular risk factors on hearing loss, hearing threshold and cardiovascular risk factors such as blood pressure, hematologic values, and serum lipid levels of 3,827 persons who visited the Health Center of a University Hospital in Kumi for health examination from January 1, 1995 to July 31, 1997 were analysed. The results were summarized as follows ; 1. Hearing threshold was shifted highly in both sex groups with age increased. Smoking did not influence increase of hearing loss, but drinking alcohol amount increased hearing threshold when sex was adjusted. The most highly increased hearing threshold showed among farmers group, but next was blue collars group. Hearing threshold increasing basis with BMI increased. 2. Systolic and diastolic blood pressure and hematocrit value increased the hearing threshold in both sex groups, but hemoglobin value did not related to the hearing threshold. 3. Total cholesterol, LDL-cholesterol, triglyceride, and atherosclerosis index were significantly increased with the grade of hearing lose increased, when age was adjusted. 4. In the logistic regression analysis, the atherosclerosis index, age, and hematocrit value revealed risk factors which contributed in that orders, though the values were small they showed statistical significances, but the risks were lowered when hemoglobin values increased, in both sex groups. Consequently, hyperlipidemia was significantly related to the hearing loss when age was adjusted.
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The purpose of this study Is whether we can presuppose the correlation between some type of anemia and exposure to organic solvents using some hematologic index such as MCV, RDW and MCHC. The authors conducted the hematological examination of 160 male workers who were exposed organic solvents and those of 167 control workers. The type of anemia was slightly macrocytic anemia, and the RDW was generally homogenous in workers exposed to organic solvents whereas those of control were normocytic and homogenous.
VDT workers are often exposed to static load in the shoulder stabilizing muscle due to repetitive work over long periods. Many investigations were reported the relationships between static load due to repetitive work and regional muscle disorder. However, diagnostic approach to work-related muscle disorder is difficult due to the absence of objective diagnostic tools. This study was performed to investigate the relationship between the serum CPK (creatine phosphokinase) concentrations and the shoulder muscle disorders. Results are as follow. 1. Mean serum CPK in total VDT workers was 67.6+/-28.4 IU/l and workers with abnormal serum CPK were 35 (21.5%). 2. Comparison between cases and controls did not show significant difference in the serum CPK level and the distribution of abnormal findings. 3. Sensitivity and specificity of the CPK test was 23.0% and 82.0%, respectively. Above results, in accordance with literatures, show that while serum CPK measure menu can be useful for the diagnosis of acute muscle injury, it does not adequately reflect the muscle disorders developed by the repetitive work of low tension over long time, such as VDT works.
This study was carried out to investigate the relationship between brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and neurological findings in welders exposed to manganese fume. Thirty five welders from a bus manufacturing factory who were occupationally exposed to low dose manganese fume were examined. We collected the information on the demo graphic factors and welding careers. Laboratory investigations included blood and urine manganese concentration and blood chemistry. Brain MRI was checked, and high signal intensity of the globus pallidus was graded from 0 to 3 compared to the white matter of the frontal lobe. Neurologic examination wart carried out. The results were as follows ; 1. The mean age of workers was 48.3+/-5.7 years, mean duration of welding was 21.4 +/-5.6 Years. 2. On brain MRI, high signal intensity in the globes pallidus was observed in 27 workers (77.1%) Among them, 18 cases (66.7%) showed remarkably high signal intensity (grade 2) Mean concentration of blood manganese was higher in those with high signal intensity and correlated to the grade of high signal intensity (p=0.02) 3. On neurologic examination, no workers showed the finding of typical parkinsonism. But 11 workers (31.4%) showed subtle neurological abnormalities such as gait without associated arm movement, postural instability, intention tremor, and so on. Blood manganese concentration of neurologically abnormal group was 2.4+/-0.7 microgram/dL, which was significantly higher, compared to 1.8+/-0.7 microgram/dL of neurologically normal group (p=0.03). 4. Among 27 workers who showed high signal intensity on brain MRI, 10 workers (37%) were neurologically abnormal. Higher grade of signal intensity on globus pallidus showed higher rate of neurologic abnormality (p<0.05) Especially postural instability and gait without associated arm movement were prominent findings. These bindings suggest that high signal intensity on brain MRI might be associated with a prodromal sign of manganese intoxication. Careful neurologic examination should be tool lowed up on welders showing high signal intensity in the golbus pallidus of brain MRI.
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State-of-the-Science Review: Does Manganese Exposure During Welding Pose a Neurological Risk? Annette B. Santamaria, Colleen A. Cushing, James M. Antonini, Brent L. Finley, Fionna S. Mowat Journal of Toxicology and Environmental Health, Part B.2007; 10(6): 417. CrossRef
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This research was carried out to determine the relationship between worker's health status and work ability index in small scale factories. The data were gathered from 330 workers of Gumi industrial complex, from February to March, 1996. In this study, as questionnaire for the assessment of work ability, We used the work ability index which was developed by Institute of Occupational Health in Finland. The results of the study were summarized as follows; 1) Work ability index was poor in shift work group, more than 9 hours work group, irregular diet group, and stress sensitive group (p<0.01). There were no evident trends of work ability index in sex, marital status, educational level, obesity index, exercise, alcohol drinking and smoking. 2) As comparing work ability index with worker's health status, work ability index was poor in visual correction needed group, urine sugar positive group, and abnormal ALT & AST group (p<0.01) There were no evident trends of work ability index in hearing capacity, blood pressure, hematocrit and urine protein. 3) In the ANOVA was performed to examine the relationship between work ability index and significant factors above 1) and 2). shift work, work hours, diet, stress sensitive and health status were still statistically significant (p<0.05) on work ability index.
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The influence of lead exposure on renal function was studied. Three hundred forty two male lead exposed workers who worked in 3 storage battery factories, 5 secondary smelting factories and 3 litharge making factories, and 60 male control workers who were not exposed to lead occupationally were chosen for this study. Blood lead (PbB), zinc protoporphyrin in whole blood (ZPP) and delta-aminolevulinic acid in urine (DALA) were selected as indicators of lead exposure. As indicators of renal function blood urea nitrogen(BUN) , serum creatinine(S-Cr), serum uric acid (S-UA), N-acetyl-beta-D-glucosaminidase in urine (NAG) and urine protein (U-TP) were selected. While the mean values of lead exposure indicators of lead workers were significantly different from non-exposed ones, the mean values of renal function indicators of exposed except S-UA were significantly different from non-exposed. The frequency of workers whose value of renal function indicators were over the nor mal criteria (BUN>20 mg/dl ; S-Cr>1.2 mg/dl ; S-UA>7.0 mg/dl ; NAG>8.0 U/liter; U-TP>8.0 mg/dl) by the level of lead absorption in terms of PbB, ZPP and DALA were calculated. Age adjusted odds ratio of over the normal value of BUN and NAG were statistically significant by the level of ZPP and that of BUN only showed the dose-dependant relationship. But the frequency of over the normal criteria of renal function indicators were not increased by the level of PbB and DALA. On stepwise multiple regression using renal function indicators as a dependent variable and each lead exposure indicator and age as independent variables, only BUN, NAG and U-TP were contributed by the lead exposure indicators. It was found that only NAG of renal function indices was most reliable indicator who showed dose-response relationship with lead exposure and the measurement of NAG for lead workers whose relatively high exposure is highly recommended.
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