Prediction of obeche wood-induced asthma by specific skin prick testing.

Background: It has previously been shown that a positive skin prick test (SPT) result is a good predictor of a positive specific inhalation challenge (SIC) in patients with occupational asthma (OA) related to wheat or rye flours. This association has not been previously studied in OA attributable to obeche wood.

Aims: To describe a clinical series of patients with OA induced by obeche wood.

A functional variant in the serine-threonine kinase coding gene is associated with hypertension: a case-control study in a Finnish population, the Tampere adult population cardiovascular risk study.

Objectives: Hypertension raises the risk of cardiovascular consequences to two-fold or three-fold. The incidence of hypertension is increasing worldwide. Genetic causes of blood pressure are estimated to cause half of the hypertension effect, but the genes behind this are still fairly unclear.

Periodic cohort health examinations in the TAMRISK study show untoward increases in body mass index and blood pressure during 15 years of follow-up.

Background: Obesity is a significant risk factor for hypertension and diabetes. A cohort of 50-year-old voluntary periodic health examination (PHE) participants was analyzed 15 years retrospectively. Our aim was to evaluate changes in body mass index (BMI) and blood pressure in subjects diagnosed with hypertension and/or diabetes in comparison with healthy controls.

Increased alveolar nitric oxide and systemic inflammation markers in silica-exposed workers.

Background: Exposure to silica dust may cause inflammatory responses, primarily in the lungs, although systemic effects have also been reported. Alveolar inflammation can be demonstrated by increased alveolar concentration of nitric oxide (NO), but information on the effects of silica dust on exhaled NO is sparse. Inflammatory mediators including cytokines are known to take part in silica-induced processes, but the role of adipokines has not been studied previously.

Exposure to cobalt in the production of cobalt and cobalt compounds and its effect on the heart.

Aims: To investigate whether exposure to cobalt in cobalt plants has any measurable effect on the cardiovascular system.

Methods: Occupational, cross sectional study, using a self administered questionnaire, blood pressure measurement, electrocardiography, and laboratory tests in which 203 male workers with at least one year of exposure to cobalt and 94 unexposed controls participated. Echocardiography was performed on a subset of 122 most highly exposed cobalt workers, of which 109 were analysed, and on 60 controls, of which 57 were analysed.