[Examples for asbestos-related findings in HRCT - criteria for the assessment of causal relationships in surveillance programmes and medical expert opinion].

The increasing use of high-resolution computed tomography in formerly asbestos-exposed workers requires valid diagnostic criteria for the findings which have to be reported as suspicious for being asbestos-related in surveillance programmes and for the assessment of causal relationships between former asbestos exposure and findings in computed tomography. The present article gives examples for asbestos-related findings in HR-CT and discusses the specificity of parenchymal and pleural changes due to asbestos fibres.

[Recommendations for reporting benign asbestos-related findings in chest X-ray and CT to the accident insurances].

Asbestos-related diseases still play an important role in occupational medicine. The detection of benign asbestos-related diseases is one condition for the compensation of asbestos-related lung cancer in Germany. Due to the increasing use of computed tomography, asbestos-related diseases are more frequently detected in the early stages.

[Digital radiography in chest imaging of occupational and environmental lung diseases].

The classification of pneumoconiosis according to ILO standard - comparing a X-ray of the lung with ILO radiographs - is well established in Germany. The extension of digital imaging is a challenging task in occupational medicine as well as in pneumology. Technical requirements are not known sufficiently and the necessary equipment is not well distributed.

[Assessing health-related quality of life data of building trade workers by means of the SF-36 questionnaire].

The Lower Saxony statutory medical service of the building trade, the building trade association in Hanover and the statutory health insurance body of Lower Saxony have co-operated in the "ArGO" model project. The objective was to focus on the main areas of work-dependent health hazards and disorders. The SF-36 questionnaire was employed to ascertain how far the results obtained concerning health-related quality of life were suitable for this purpose.

[Further development of the International Pneumoconiosis Classification--from ILO 1980 to ILO 2000 and to ILO 2000/German Federal Republic version].

The ILO (1980) Classification has been revised during recent years. The new version is now available as the International Classification of Radiographs of Pneumoconioses (Revised edition 2000). The Guidelines booklet is currently available only in English.

Detection of 8-hydroxydeoxyguanosine, a marker of oxidative DNA damage, in white blood cells of workers occupationally exposed to styrene.

Styrene-7,8-oxide (SO), the major in vivo metabolite of styrene, is a genotoxic compound and a potential carcinogenic hazard to occupationally exposed workers. The aim of the present work was to investigate the ability of styrene exposure to induce formation of 8-hydroxy-2'-deoxyguanosine (8-OHdG) in white blood cells (WBC) of boatbuilders occupationally exposed to styrene. The study of these adducts was conducted to see if styrene exposure can cause oxidative damage of DNA.

Gaseous and adsorbed PAH in an iron foundry.

The increased risk of lung cancer among foundry workers is assumed to be associated with the inhalation of gaseous and particle bound polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH). These compounds are produced during pyrolysis of carbon containing loading material in the moulding sand. The concentrations of 20 PAH, some of which are carcinogenic, have been determined in the dusty casting area of an iron foundry by means of gas chromatography and mass spectrometry.