[Compensation for occupational diseases after tomodensitometry screening for benign pleuro-pulmonary disease in a multiregional post-occupational medical surveillance program of asbestos-exposed retired workers].

Background: Underreporting of occupational diseases related to asbestos exposure remains a matter of concern in France. The aim of this study was to evaluate the number of claims for compensation for asbestos-related non-malignant pulmonary or pleural occupational disease in subjects having undergone a chest CT-scan in a multiregional screening programme.

Methods: Among the 5444 voluntary retired asbestos-exposed subjects recruited in four regions between 2003 and 2005 who had undergone a chest CT-scan, the number of claims for compensation for an asbestos-related pulmonary or pleural benign disease was analysed in 2006 and 2010.

Do asbestos-related pleural plaques on HRCT scans cause restrictive impairment in the absence of pulmonary fibrosis?

Background: It is uncertain whether isolated pleural plaques cause functional impairment.

Objective: To analyse the relationship between isolated pleural plaques confirmed by CT scanning and lung function in subjects with occupational exposure to asbestos.

Methods: The study population consisted of 2743 subjects presenting with no parenchymal interstitial abnormalities on the high-resolution CT (HRCT) scan.

Assessment of nasal fibroscopy to explore olfactory cleft.

Objective: To assess whether flexible nasoendoscopy can be used to visualize all parts of the olfactory cleft (OC) without morbidity.

Study Design: Single-center, prospective, observational study.

Setting: French tertiary referral center.

Does asbestos exposure cause airway obstruction, in the absence of confirmed asbestosis?

Rationale: Whether occupational exposure to asbestos causes airway obstruction remains controversial.

Objectives: This study evaluated lung function in relation to cumulative exposure to asbestos in a large cohort of retired or unemployed workers exposed to asbestos.

Methods: The study population consisted of 3,660 volunteer subjects.

[Carcinogenesis of the ethmoidal adenocarcinoma due to wood dust].

Objectives: To recognize the mechanisms and the different oncogenic pathways of ethmoid adenocarcinoma (EADC) in woodworkers.

Methods: A systematic review of the literature and evaluation according to scientific evidences.

Results: Wood dust less than 10 microm settles on the external aspects of the ethmoid sinus that is the middle turbinate, the middle meatus and the olfactory cleft.

Occupational exposure to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons influenced neither the frequency nor the spectrum of FGFR3 mutations in bladder urothelial carcinoma.

Occupational exposure to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) is associated with an increased risk of urothelial carcinoma (UC). FGFR3 is found mutated in about 70% of Ta tumors, which represent the major group at diagnosis. The influence of PAH on FGFR3 mutations and whether it is related to the emergence or shaping of these mutations is not yet known.

Pleural plaques and asbestosis: dose- and time-response relationships based on HRCT data.

Most studies on asbestos-related diseases are based on chest radiographs, and dose-response relationships are still controversial. The aim of this study was to describe the most relevant parameters of asbestos exposure linked to pleural plaques and asbestosis diagnosed by high-resolution computed tomography (HRCT). A large screening programme including systematic HRCT examinations was organised from 2003 to 2005 in France for formerly asbestos-exposed workers.

Is ethmoidal adenocarcinoma screening in employees exposed to wood dust justified?

Introduction: Since 1995, the means which are used for the follow-up of wood-workers in France are obsolete. Based on experts' opinions, they have never been assessed as effective in the detection of adenocarcinoma of the ethmoid sinus.

Objective: Collecting the data present in the literature to justify the necessity and the means of a screening protocol that would help detect ethmoidal adenocarcinoma among the wood worker population.

Computed tomography findings in urban transportation workers with low cumulative asbestos exposure.

Objective: To assess the frequency of computed tomography (CT) scan pleural and interstitial changes in a population of urban transportation workers with low cumulative exposure to asbestos, and to measure inter-reader agreement.

Design: A total of 269 male volunteers (mean age 54.0 +/- 2.

Health consequences of the first Persian Gulf War on French troops.

Since 1993, many studies on the health of Persian Gulf War Veterans (PGWV) have been undertaken. These studies have concluded that there has been an increased mortality due to external causes, no excess of recognized diseases, and no effect on PGWV children. When compared with the non-deployed, PGWV have reported a higher frequency of infertility as well as different symptoms, but a specific Gulf War syndrome was not identified.

Occupational exposures and haematological malignancies: overview on human recent data.

Objective: Occupational causes of haematological malignancies are relatively uncommon, under-studied and under-identified. They are also often unrecognized by clinicians. This review summarizes the principal epidemiologic studies on this topic.

A prospective study of the psychological effects of "person under train" incidents on drivers.

Previous studies have shown that person under train (PUT) accidents cause psychological distress to drivers during the first year following the incident. Our aims were to assess the psychological consequences of PUT accidents on drivers prospectively, and to identify risk factors for psychological effects. In this prospective, one-year, follow-up study, a consecutive series of PUT drivers (n=202) were compared with a group of matched control drivers (n=186).

Methacholine bronchial responsiveness and variations in lung function among workers exposed to flour.

Objectives: Methacholine bronchial responsiveness and variations in the pulmonary function of workers exposed to wheat flour and a reference group were compared.

Methods: Each subject [140 men exposed to flour (bakers and pastry makers) and 77 controls] completed a standardized questionnaire. Bronchial responsiveness was quantified by measuring the slope between percentage decrements in forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV1) and cumulative methacholine dose.

[Occupational exposure and bladder cancer].

There is an important gap between the number of bladder cancer cases--over a 1000 per year--that are imputable, by epidemiologists'estimations, to occupational factors and the small number--fewer than 20--compensated as occupational diseases. This can be explained by the latency of the disease and by the fact that the chemicals mainly responsible for bladder cancer--aromatic amines compounds and, to a lesser extent, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons--are very complex and disseminated in a large variety of industrial settings. Besides the sectors historically known as involving this occupational risk--the dye and the rubber industries--new branches have been identified as hazardous: some sectors of plastic materials or aluminium industries, of laboratory research, the industrial gas production from coke ovens, foundries.

Professional and medical outcomes for French train drivers after "person under train" accidents: three year follow up study.

Aims: To investigate psychiatric disorders, somatic health, and professional effects in French train drivers having experienced a "person under train" accident, and somatic health and professional effects.

Methods: A total of 202 train drivers were evaluated several times: immediately after the event, three months later, and one, two, and three years later. These drivers were compared with 186 train drivers not exposed to that psychotraumatic shock.

Healthy worker effect and changes in respiratory symptoms and lung function in hairdressing apprentices.

Aims: To compare the prevalence and incidence of respiratory symptoms and lung function values between hairdressing apprentices and office apprentices.

Methods: A total of 322 hairdressing apprentices and 277 office apprentices (controls) were studied. Two cross sectional surveys were conducted in 1994 and 1996/97 with longitudinal follow up for a subgroup of apprentices (191 hairdressing apprentices and 189 office apprentices).

[Radiodermatitis in interventional radiology (hand dose measurement, screening and compensation)].

It is to be feared that the expansion of interventional radiology could lead to the reappearance of chronic radiodermatitis. Only a few studies mention the doses received by the hands, however these radiation doses are always high. Whereas clinical examinations lead to a belated diagnosis, capillary microscopy, a quick and non invasive test, enables to detect vascular injuries at the subclinical stage.

Computerized equipment for the delivery of inhaled doses of solid particles in specific bronchial challenge.

An apparatus to generate solid particles was tested for use in diagnosing occupational asthma. This equipment measures the inhaled dose of dry particles during specific inhalation challenge. It includes an aerosol generator, a cyclone type particle size selector, and an inhalation chamber to which a patient breathing at tidal volume can be connected for the test.

[Recent advances in environmental toxicology].

Among the sanitary effects of environmental chemicals, 3 examples illustrate the complexity of the issues to be solved: 1. endocrine disrupters, xenobiotics which interfere with hormonal systems, could increase the risk of reproductive and developmental disturbances and explain the rising incidence of hormone-dependent cancers; 2. multiple chemical sensitivity due to odorous chemicals has severe social consequences and warrants further research; 3.

Quantification of the dose of inhaled flour: relation with nonspecific bronchial and immunological reactivities.

The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between specific bronchial reactivity and respective nonspecific bronchial and immunological reactivities. Twenty-one patients underwent bronchial challenges with lactose and flour. The aerosol of particles was generated by a computer-controlled aerosolizer.

Reticulocytes and solvents: an epidemiological study.

Objectives: The aim of the study was to look for a rise in reticulocyte levels in workers exposed to various solvents, in comparison to non exposed control subjects.

Methods: A cohort of exposed workers was selected on the criterion of exposure to solvents, among employees regularly attending the Centre of Occupational Medicine of Molsheim (France) during the second trimester of 1995. Controls were selected over the same period from the voluntary blood donors of the Transfusion Centre of Strasbourg (France).

[Arterial hypertension and socioeconomic status in a representative population of French railway drivers].

Unlabelled: High blood pressure (HDP) is known as a cardiovascular risk factor depending both on environmental and socio-economic factors.

Methods: From October 1993 to october 1994 a cross sectional study was carried out among 1,855 French railway drivers (FRD) representative of the 17,432 males FRD, aged 25 to 54 years. Age, weight, height, hip and waist, smoking, living area, type of train they drove (goods, suburban, TGV, inter-city trains), their grade (3 grades) were recorded.

Occupational exposure to solvents and hairy cell leukaemia.

Objectives: The role of occupational exposures in hairy cell leukaemia was investigated through a multicentre, hospital based, case-control study. This paper analyses the role of exposure to solvents other than benzene in hairy cell leukaemia.

Methods: The study included 226 male cases and 425 matched controls, exposure to solvents was evaluated by expert case by case review of the detailed data on occupational exposures generated by specific interviews.

[Occupational asthma caused by buckwheat flour].

Buckwheat flour, mainly used for pancakes, may induce asthma following inhalation and anaphylactic reactions following ingestion. These allergic reactions are mediated by specific IgE and may be confirmed by skin test and radio-allergo-sorbent test. The occupational asthma of a patient working in pancake restaurant was confirmed by specific challenge test with a computerised device to generate particles.