Utilizing Artificial Neural Networks for Establishing Hearing-Loss Predicting Models Based on a Longitudinal Dataset and Their Implications for Managing the Hearing Conservation Program.

Background: Though the artificial neural network (ANN) technique has been used to predict noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL), the established prediction models have primarily relied on cross-sectional datasets, and hence, they may not comprehensively capture the chronic nature of NIHL as a disease linked to long-term noise exposure among workers.

Methods: A comprehensive dataset was utilized, encompassing eight-year longitudinal personal hearing threshold levels (HTLs) as well as information on seven personal variables and two environmental variables to establish NIHL predicting models through the ANN technique. Three subdatasets were extracted from the afirementioned comprehensive dataset to assess the advantages of the present study in NIHL predictions.

Evaluation of particle and volatile organic compound emissions during the use of 3D pens.

This study investigated particle and volatile organic compound (VOC) emission rates (ER) from 3D pens, which are increasingly popular in children's toys. Nine filaments and two 3D pens were evaluated using a flow tunnel, a scanning mobility particle sizer, a proton-transfer-reaction time-of-flight mass spectrometer for particles, and a thermal desorption-gas chromatography-mass spectrometer for VOCs. Results showed that the ERs varied with the pen type, filament, and brand.

Dose-response relationship between lung function and chest imaging response to silica exposures in artificial stone manufacturing workers.

Background: Occupational exposure to artificial stone, a popular material used for countertops, can cause accelerated silicosis, but the precise relationship between silica dose and disease development is unclear.

Objectives: This study evaluated the impact of silica exposure on lung function and chest imaging in artificial stone manufacturing workers.

Methods: Questionnaire and spirometry assessments were administered to workers in two plants.

The effect of cumulative noise exposure on distortion product otoacoustic emissions.

Objective: This study aimed to identify the characteristics of distortion product otoacoustic emissions (DPOAEs) that can be used to differentiate noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL) from age-related hearing loss. A potential index to detect NIHL was defined in terms of its susceptibility to cumulative noise exposure but not to age.

Design: In this cross-sectional cohort study, a job-exposure matrix was used to calculate the cumulative noise exposure.

Application of Standardized Proportional Mortality Ratio to the Assessment of Health Risk in Relatively Healthy Populations: Using a Study of Cancer Risk in Telecommunication Workers with Excess Exposure to Acid Mists as an Example.

When a study population is relatively healthy, such as an occupational population, epidemiological studies are likely to underestimate risk. We used a case study on the cancer risk of workers with exposure to acid mists, a well-documented carcinogen, to demonstrate that using proportional mortality ratios (PMRs) is more appropriate than mortality ratios in assessing risk in terms of mortality. The study included 10,229 employees of a telecommunication company who worked in buildings with battery rooms.

Physical and psychological stress along with candle fumes induced-cardiopulmonary injury mimicking restaurant kitchen workers.

Restaurant kitchens are work areas where involve strict and hierarchal environments that promote opportunity for bullying and workplace aggression and violence. These physical and psychological stress and fumes ultimately trigger severe occupational stress by disrupting the body's homeostasis that might induce cardiopulmonary injury. The study aimed to investigate the physical and psychological stress and candle fumes on cardiopulmonary injury in an animal model mimicking a restaurant kitchen worker.

Respiratory health effects of the fiberglass-reinforced plastic lamination process in the yacht-building industry.

Objectives Fiberglass-reinforced plastics (FRP) manufacturing has been related to cases of severe airway obstruction and elevated risk of respiratory mortality. But the specific job content risk is not clear. This study evaluated the respiratory health effects of the FRP lamination process.

Effect of Implementing Electronic Toll Collection in Reducing Highway Particulate Matter Pollution.

Highway vehicle emissions can result in adverse health problems to nearby residents and workers, especially during traffic congestion. In response, the policy to implement electronic toll collection (ETC) has helped alleviate traffic congestion, as compared to manual toll collection (MTC) and has led to reduced air pollution and improved public health. However, the effect of ETC in reducing particulate matter polluting the air is not well understood, especially in the ultrafine particle (UFP) range (particle diameter <100 nm).

Will daytime occupational noise exposures induce nighttime sleep disturbance?

Background: Nighttime environmental noise affects sleep quality. However, the effects of daytime occupational noise remain unclear.

Methods: A quasi-experiment of 48 participants who had been employed for at least six months in two hospital cafeterias.

An instantaneous spatiotemporal model for predicting traffic-related ultrafine particle concentration through mobile noise measurements.

People living near roadways are exposed to high concentrations of ultrafine particles (UFP, diameter < 100 nm). This can result in adverse health effects such as respiratory illness and cardiovascular diseases. However, accurately characterizing the UFP number concentration requires expensive sets of instruments.

PM components and outpatient visits for asthma: A time-stratified case-crossover study in a suburban area.

The effects of fine particles (PM) on asthma have been widely confirmed by epidemiological research studies. However, a limited number of studies have investigated the relationship between exposure to different PM components and asthma. We characterized the PM components in a suburban site of central Taiwan and conducted a time-stratified case-crossover study to elaborate the effects of daily concentration of each PM component on asthma outpatient visits.

Comparison of Real Time Nanoparticle Monitoring Instruments in the Workplaces.

Background: Relationships among portable scanning mobility particle sizer (P-SMPS), condensation particle counter (CPC), and surface area monitor (SAM), which are different metric measurement devices, were investigated, and two widely used research grade (RG)-SMPSs were compared to harmonize the measurement protocols.

Methods: Pearson correlation analysis was performed to compare the relation between P-SMPS, CPC, and SAM and two common RG-SMPS.

Results: For laboratory and engineered nanoparticle (ENP) workplaces, correlation among devices showed good relationships.

Estimation of respiratory heat flows in prediction of heat strain among Taiwanese steel workers.

International Organization for Standardization 7933 standard provides evaluation of required sweat rate (RSR) and predicted heat strain (PHS). This study examined and validated the approximations in these models estimating respiratory heat flows (RHFs) via convection (C ) and evaporation (E ) for application to Taiwanese foundry workers. The influence of change in RHF approximation to the validity of heat strain prediction in these models was also evaluated.

Emissions of Nanoparticles and Gaseous Material from 3D Printer Operation.

This study evaluated the emissions characteristics of hazardous material during fused deposition modeling type 3D printing. Particulate and gaseous materials were measured before, during, and after 3D printing in an exposure chamber. One ABS and two PLA (PLA1 and PLA2) cartridges were tested three times.

Cancer Attributable to Asbestos Exposure in Shipbreaking Workers: A Matched-Cohort Study.

Purpose: Long-term follow-up studies of asbestos-related cancer in shipbreaking workers are lacking. This study examines the relationship between cancer incidence and asbestos exposure among former Taiwan shipbreaking workers.

Methods: A total of 4,427 shipbreaking workers and 22,135 population-based matched controls were successfully followed in this study.

An integrated approach to assess exposure and health-risk from polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in a fastener manufacturing industry.

An integrated approach was developed to assess exposure and health-risk from polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) contained in oil mists in a fastener manufacturing industry. One previously developed model and one new model were adopted for predicting oil mist exposure concentrations emitted from metal work fluid (MWF) and PAHs contained in MWF by using the fastener production rate (Pr) and cumulative fastener production rate (CPr) as predictors, respectively. By applying the annual Pr and CPr records to the above two models, long-term workplace PAH exposure concentrations were predicted.

Prioritizing factors associated with thermal stresses imposed on workers in steel and iron casting industries using the Monte Carlo simulation and sensitivity analysis.

Objectives: The aims of this study were to develop approaches for monitoring and prioritizing factors associated with thermal stresses imposed on workers in iron and steel casting industries, and to eventually purpose effective control strategies.

Methods: The whole study was completed in the furnace areas of two steel casting and two iron casting plants, where the air temperature (Ta), radiant temperature (Tr), air velocity (Va) and partial water vapor pressure (Pa) were measured continuously during two consecutive work cycles. Simultaneously, the metabolic rates (M) of all workers in the furnace area were also measured.

Cancer incidence of Taiwanese shipbreaking workers who have been potentially exposed to asbestos.

Background: Shipbreaking remains one of the most dangerous jobs worldwide. Shipbreaking workers are exposed to many hazardous chemicals, especially asbestos. Unfortunately, long-term follow-up studies of cancer incidence patterns in shipbreaking workers are lacking.

Developing a semi-quantitative occupational risk prediction model for chemical exposures and its application to a national chemical exposure databank.

In this study, a semi-quantitative occupational chemical exposure risk prediction model, based on the calculation of exposure hazard indexes, was proposed, corrected, and applied to a national chemical exposure databank. The model comprises one factor used to describe toxicity (i.e.

Obliterative bronchiolitis in fibreglass workers: a new occupational disease?

Rationale And Objectives: Obliterative bronchiolitis (OB) is a rare disease with a small number of established occupational aetiologies. We describe a case series of severe OB in workers making glass-reinforced plastics.

Methods: Workplace exposures were the likely cause after the independent diagnosis of OB in two workers laying up the fibreglass hulls of yachts; the second worker took over the job of the first after he left following a lung transplant.

A pilot study for determining the optimal operation condition for simultaneously controlling the emissions of PCDD/Fs and PAHs from the iron ore sintering process.

In this study, the cost-benefit analysis technique was developed and incorporated into the Taguchi experimental design to determine the optimal operation combination for the purpose of providing a technique solution for controlling both emissions of PCDD/Fs and PAHs, and increasing both the sinter productivity (SP) and sinter strength (SS) simultaneously. Four operating parameters, including the water content, suction pressure, bed height, and type of hearth layer, were selected and all experimental campaigns were conducted on a pilot-scale sinter pot to simulate various sintering operating conditions of a real-scale sinter plant. The resultant optimal combination could reduce the total carcinogenic emissions arising from both emissions of PCDD/Fs and PAHs by 49.

Pulmonary function, respiratory symptoms, and dust exposures among workers engaged in early manufacturing processes of tea: a cohort study.

Background: To evaluate pulmonary function and respiratory symptoms in workers engaged in the early manufacturing processes of tea and to identify the associated factors, we conducted a study in a tea production area in Taiwan.

Methods: We recruited tea workers who engaged in the early manufacturing process in the Mountain Ali area in Taiwan and a comparison group of local office workers who were matched for age, gender, and smoking habits. We performed questionnaire interviews, pulmonary function tests, skin prick tests, and measurement of specific IgE for tea on the participants and assessed tea dust exposures in the tea factories.

Correcting the gas and particle partitioning of PCDD/F congeners in the flue gas of an iron ore sinter plant.

This study was aimed at developing an approach for correcting the gas and particle partitioning of PCDD/F congeners for samples collected from the flue gas of an iron ore sinter plant. An iron ore sinter plant equipped with an electrostatic precipitator (EP) and a selective catalytic reduction (SCR) was selected. Flue gas samples were collected at EP inlet, EP outlet and SCR outlet.