OBJECTIVES Copper and Zinc, the trace elements of a living body, take a part in immunologic mechanism and induce the pulmonary fibrosis which is the pathologic progress of pneumoconiosis. This study was performed to assist the identification of the pathologic process of pulmonary fibrosis in pneumoconiosis. METHODS The subjects of this study was 200 diagnosed persons as pneumoconiosis, of whom 100 persons was the visitors in the outpatients departments of pneumoconiosis and 100 admissive pneumoconiosis patients.
The serum copper and zinc are measured and com pared. RESULTS The mean serum copper concentration of visitor group was significantly higher than that of control group, and that of stage V3 subgroup of visitor group was highest because of their advanced fibrosis. But, there was not the difference of serum copper concentration between patient and control group. We thought that the reason was poor nutritional and health status of the patient. The mean of serum zinc concentration of visitor and patient control was lower than that of control group. As the degree of pulmonary fibrosis was more severe from stage Vl, V2, V3 of visitor to stage Pl, P2, P3 of patient, the mean of serum zinc concentration was lower. The ratio of serum copper/zinc of visitor and patient was higher than that of control, and that of patient was higher than that of visitor. Those results showed that the ratio of serum copper/zinc ratio more greatly expressed the degree of progression of pneumoconiosis than only copper or zinc concentration by adjustment of nutritional and health status of the patient. CONCLUSIONS As above study results, the degree of pulmonary fibrosis of pneumoconiosis could be estimated by means of serum copper/zinc ratio.
OBJECTIVES This study was carried out to assess psychosocial distress of lead workers and to examine the relationship between lead exposure indices and psychosocial distress. METHODS The study design was cross-sectional and research subjects were 234 lead workers in primary smelting industry.
General characteristics, job characteristics and social support were obtained by self-administered questionnaire and history taking.
Psychosocial distress was measured using PWI(Psychosocial Well-being Index), a 45-item self-administered instrument. Blood lead(PbB), zinc protoporphyrin(ZPP), -aminolevulinic acid in urine(ALAU) were selected as indicators of lead exposure. RESULTS There was significant difference in PWI according to lead exposure level and job characteristics. The results of correlation analysis showed that PWI was significantly correlated with PbB(r=0.203, P=0.002). CONCLUSIONS Our results supported the association between lead exposure and psychosocial distress. The inclusion of psychosocial distress measurement as a special health examination for lead workers was highly recommended for the effective health management.
Objective : To investigate the influence of smoking, alcohol ingestion, and physical activity on copper and zinc in RBC and serum and serum ceruloplasmin, this study was performed in a cross-sectional study in 113 healthy men aged 20 to 40 years who had no symptomatic liver, heart, gastrointestinal, and other chronic diseases. METHODS At the men's entry into the study, blood samples were drawn from each subject and immediately centrifuged for analysis of copper, zinc, iron, ceruloplasmin, total cholesterol, and hematocrit. Each man completed a questionnaire that provided information on smoking, amount of alcohol intake, and physical activity. Partial regres sion analysis was performed on confounding variables such as age, body mass index, hematocrit, serum cholesterol, and serum iron. RESULTS In general linear models, adjustment for confounding variables did not show statistical differences, and there was only an increasing tendency in serum copper in heavy smoker (P=0.0678). There was no difference between high physical activity with mild smokers and lower physical activfty with, heavy smokers. CONCLUSIONS This study suggested that copper, zinc and eeruloplasmin were not good biomarker for early effect by smoking, alcohol intake and physical activity in young adult. However, selection bias should be considered in evaluation of this result, and a large prospective study will be needed in advance on usefulness of copper, zinc and ceruloplasmin as a marker for risk factors and early change of atherosclerosis.
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Assessment of reference ranges for blood Cu, Mn, Se and Zn in a selected Italian population Beatrice Bocca, Roberto Madeddu, Yolande Asara, Paola Tolu, Juan A. Marchal, Giovanni Forte Journal of Trace Elements in Medicine and Biology.2011; 25(1): 19. CrossRef
Cadmium(Cd) is an ubiquitous, toxic and non-essential metal which is controversial about the association with a cardiovascular disease. In this study, we investigated the reference level of Cd in myocardium in Korean general population. The level of Cd and zinc(Zn) concentration in myocardium of 252 cases of "sudden and unexpected death" autopsies(male 172, female 60) aged 0 to 87 years was analyzed. The concentration of Cd and Zn was determined with atomic absorption spectrophotometer(Perkin-Elmer Model 5100) by flameless and flame method, respectively. The content of Cd and Zn in myocardium showed the log-normal distribution rather than normal distribution. Geometric mean concentration of Cd was 0.19 microgram/g wet weight in myocardium. The level of Cd in myocardium was not significantly different between male(0. 18 microgram/g wet weight) and female(0.22 microgram/g wet weight). Geometric mean concentration of Zn in myocardium was 25.25 microgram/g wet weight. The level of Zn between male(25.13 microgram/g wet weight) and female(25.57 microgram/g wet weight) was not different. The deposit of Cd in myocardium was age-dependent of biphasic pattern, but the Zn level by age was not significantly different. The level of Cd in myocardium was increased to the fifties of age, thereafter a leveling-off was shown. The regression model of Cd deposit in myocardium by age was predicted as the following equation Log Heart-Cd = -1.2726 + 0.0234 Age - 0.0002 Age2. The maximum Cd deposit in myocardium was estimated to be 0.26 microgram/g wet weight at the age of 58.5 in Korean general population. In addition, the total Cd burden in heart by age was predicted as a following equation Total Cd burden in Heart = -10.165 + 2.891 Age - 0.0258 Age2. The maximum heart burden of Cd was estimated to be 70.7 microgram at age of 55.4. The positive correlation between Cd and Zn was observed in myocardium. The linear regression equation was Log Heart-Zn = 1.4195 +/- 0.0262- Log Heart-Cd.
In order to investigate the level of lead absorption of lead workers and to evaluate the effect of blood lead on blood zinc protoporphyrin (ZPP) and prevalence of lead related symptoms, 1,782 lead workers(male: 1,506, female: 276) from 8 storage battery industries were studied. Selected variables as indices of lead exposure were blood lead, blood ZPP, and hemoglobin (HB). Fifteen questionnaires of lead related symptoms were provided to all lead workers and filled up by themselves and confirmed by medical doctors. Personal variables such as age, work duration, smoking and drinking habits were also collected. The results were follows : 1. While the mean blood lead of lead workers of all lead companies was 31.0+/-3.0 ug/100ml (male: 31.5+/-2.9 ug/100ml, female: 27.9+/-3.3 ug/100m1), the mean blood ZPP of all lead workers was 66.7+/-4.1 ug/100ml (male: 59.6+/-3.3, female: 105.3+/-3.0 ug/100ml). The mean hemoglobin of male lead workers was 15.7+/-.3 gm/100ml and that of female lead workers was 13.0+/-.3 gm/100ml. 2. The percentage of lead workers whose blood lead was over 60.0 ug/100m1 and 40.0-59.9 ug/100ml was 2.81 % and 19.08 %, respectively. On the other hand, the percentage of lead workers whose blood ZPP was over 150 ug/100ml and 100-149 ug/100ml was 5.89 % and 8.31 %, respectively. 3. The slopes of simple linear regression of blood lead (independent variable) and blood ZPP in female lead workers was significantly steeper than that of male lead workers. The slope of storage battery industries with better working condition in terms of low air concentration of lead were less steeper than those with poor working condition with high mean air concentration of lead. 4. Stepwise multiple regression analysis, using overall symptom prevalence as a dependent variables, blood lead, blood ZPP, hemoglobin, age, work duration, drinking and smoking habits as independent variables, indicated that only drinking habit and age were significantly contributed to the dependent variable.
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Occupational Lead Exposure from Indoor Firing Ranges in Korea Won-Ju Park, Suk-Ho Lee, Se-Ho Lee, Hye-Sik Yoon, Jai-Dong Moon Journal of Korean Medical Science.2016; 31(4): 497. CrossRef
Blood lead levels of Korean lead workers in 2003–2011 Ji-Hye Kim, Eun-A Kim, Dong-Hee Koh, Kiwhan Byun, Hyang-Woo Ryu, Sang-Gil Lee Annals of Occupational and Environmental Medicine.2014;[Epub] CrossRef
Two hundred and six male lead workers (86 lead workers from secondary smelting industries and 120 lead workers from litharge making industries) and 212 office workers who were not exposed to lead occupationally were studied to investigate the effect of lead on the health of lead workers in high risk operation to lead. Blood lead (PbB), zinc protoporphyrin in whole blood (ZPP), delta-aminolevulinic acid in urine (ALAU), Hematocrit (Hct) and hemoglobin (Hb) were selected as an index of lead exposure. Questionnaires of 15 lead related symptoms were provided to all study subject and filled up by themselves and reconfirmed the symptom answers by interviewing medical doctor. While the mean value of PbB, ZPP and ALAU of lead workers in secondary smelting industries were 62.7+/-14.6 microgram/dl, 103.1+/-60.5 microgram/dl and 7.4+/-10.3 mg/liter, those of lead workers in litharge making industries were 58.8+/-14.1 microgram/dl, 74.2+/-45.2 microgram/dl and 5.3+/- 7.9 mg/liter respectively, and there were statistically significant difference of mean values between two groups. Simple linear regression analysis of PBB on ZPP and ALAU shoved the steeper slope in secondary smelting industries than litharge making industries. Higher symptom prevalence rates of lead exposed group were observed in lead colic related symptom (S4) and neuromuscular symptoms compared with non-exposed workers. The prevalence of neuromuscular symptoms only showed dose-response relationship by the increase of PBB and ZPP. But more statistical significances were observed in neuromuscular symptoms by the increase of PBB than ZPP. On stepwise multiple regression using total symptom score as a dependent variable and PBB, ZPP, ALAU, Hct, Hb, age and work duration as a independent variables only ZPP and age contributed to the lead related symptoms.
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The association between cadmium and lead exposure and blood pressure among workers of a smelting industry: a cross-sectional study Hyun Chan An, Joo Hyun Sung, Jiho Lee, Chang Sun Sim, Sang Hoon Kim, Yangho Kim Annals of Occupational and Environmental Medicine.2017;[Epub] CrossRef
Blood lead levels of Korean lead workers in 2003–2011 Ji-Hye Kim, Eun-A Kim, Dong-Hee Koh, Kiwhan Byun, Hyang-Woo Ryu, Sang-Gil Lee Annals of Occupational and Environmental Medicine.2014;[Epub] CrossRef